The case turned on what prosecutors said happened before and after one shot inside a Bradley Road residence.
MONTICELLO, N.Y. — What began as a father and son arguing inside a Sullivan County home ended with Lloyd Botsford dead on a living-room love seat and Drew Botsford sentenced to 25 years to life.
Prosecutors told jurors the killing was rooted in a family setting, not a public confrontation. The house at 39 Bradley Road in the Town of Neversink became the center of a case involving a rifle from a bedroom closet, a single round from a drawer, relatives who found the victim and an overnight hiding place in the back of a family vehicle. A jury convicted Drew Botsford in March of second-degree murder.
The father and son were at the residence at about 6 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2023, when they argued, according to the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office. Lloyd Botsford, 71, was in the living room watching football. Prosecutors said Drew Botsford, then 48, went to his father’s bedroom closet, took a .22-caliber rifle, found one .22-caliber round in the top drawer and loaded the chamber. He walked down the hallway and stopped near the bathroom door. From a squatted position, prosecutors said, he aimed and fired once. The shot hit Lloyd Botsford in the head.
The first people to confront the aftermath were family members. They found Lloyd Botsford lying on the couch and called emergency personnel. Responders arrived at the home and tried life-saving measures, but the victim could not be revived. The district attorney’s office later described Lloyd Botsford as a loving husband, father and friend to many people in Sullivan County. District Attorney Brian P. Conaty said after the verdict that the elder Botsford had supported his son through efforts to separate himself from addiction.
As responders dealt with the victim, prosecutors said Drew Botsford tried to put distance between himself and the home. They said he took about $1,668 in cash and carried his mother’s groceries to the back of his aunt’s vehicle. The vehicle was parked along the side of the residence, outside the immediate view of the police presence that had formed at the scene. Botsford then crossed the street to his uncle’s home and asked for the keys. His uncle denied the request, cutting off that route out of the area.
The escape attempt then shifted into hiding. Prosecutors said Botsford climbed into the rear hatch area of the aunt’s vehicle and stayed there while law enforcement and emergency service workers remained at or near the property. Authorities said he locked himself inside without anyone else on scene knowing he was there. Officers searched but were unable to locate him that night. The detail became one of the more unusual parts of the case because the defendant was near the emergency response while hidden in a relative’s vehicle.
At about 7:30 a.m. the next morning, authorities said, Botsford used a tire jack he found in the hatch area to break the rear window of the vehicle and get out. He then went into his aunt’s home. New York State Police were called, returned to the scene and arrested him. The arrest moved the case from the family property to the state police barracks, where investigators questioned him. Prosecutors said Botsford admitted that he had argued with his father before taking the rifle and shooting him once in the head.
The family scene was later matched with physical evidence. State police investigators searched the home and found a spent .22-caliber shell casing outside a bedroom door. Prosecutors said that was consistent with the place Botsford described as his firing position. Investigators found the rifle leaning against Lloyd Botsford’s bedroom dresser. The New York State Police Crime Laboratory found Drew Botsford’s DNA on the forearm, stock, bolt and trigger areas of the rifle, which prosecutors said matched the way a shooter would hold the weapon. Lloyd Botsford’s DNA was excluded from those areas.
The court process stretched from the October 2023 killing to the 2026 verdict and sentence. A Sullivan County jury returned the guilty verdict on March 16 after a five-day trial. Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael J. Puma prosecuted the case. Tim Havas, executive director of the Sullivan County Legal Aid Society, represented Drew Botsford. Sullivan County Court Judge James R. Farrell presided at trial and imposed the 25-years-to-life sentence on May 15. Botsford was 49 by the time he was sentenced.
Conaty said the sentence was meant to protect the community and hold Botsford fully accountable. “No family should have to endure this kind of unimaginable tragedy,” Conaty said. He also thanked investigators, prosecutors and support staff, saying their work secured justice for the victim. The district attorney’s statements after conviction and sentencing pointed to the family relationship at the center of the case, while also noting that the state relied on police work, forensic analysis and trial testimony to prove the charge.
The defense has not accepted the verdict as the final word. Havas told the Times Herald-Record that the defense planned to appeal. No detailed appellate argument has been made public in the available reports. The appeal would follow the trial record and could address legal issues tied to the conviction, evidence or proceedings. Unless a reviewing court changes the judgment, Botsford remains sentenced to a prison term of 25 years to life.
The Bradley Road home is no longer an active trial scene, but the case remains open in one limited sense through the expected appeal. The conviction stands, the sentence has been imposed and the next step belongs to the appellate courts.
Author note: Last updated June 16, 2026.