OWEGO, NY (607NewsNow) — A Newfield man will serve time in prison for the torture and murder of an Ithaca resident. 

Joseph Howell was sentenced Friday to at least 31 years in prison by a Tioga County judge. Howell was the first prosecuted in the 2023 death of Thomas Rath, who was abducted from the ‘jungle’ in Ithaca and whose body was later found in Candor.

Howell was convicted in October.