Wing officially freed from jail following court hearing

CANTON, New York (WWNY) - Frederick Wing, who was accused of killing a Gouverneur man three weeks ago, is now officially free from jail.

The 22-year-old had been in jail on a second-degree murder charge since 72-year-old Ronald “Huck” Durham was found dead in East Side Cemetery in the town of Gouverneur on February 11. It was alleged Wing stabbed Durham in the neck.

Wing was released after evidence from a homicide investigation in Rossie connected the two deaths and pointed to a different suspect.

William Freeman, 67, was found dead in his Rossie home on Thursday.

On Friday, Wing was released and placed under probation supervision.

At a hearing in St. Lawrence County Court Monday morning, both the release and probation supervision were made official.

Wing’s cousin, Jessica Bice, says the whole ordeal has been devastating for the family.

“We’ve been in shock, but we also had a strong support system with the community, the local Gouverneur Police Department and definitely Ed Narrow’s team. We can’t thank them all enough,” she said.

Wing’s relationship with Huck Durham was described as a close one - even called a father-son relationship. That’s why many in the Gouverneur community didn’t believe Wing could have hurt Durham.

“Oh, he spent many mornings going to have coffee with him. He went to clinical appointments with Huck. He spent many times of family interaction over at his family home,” said Bice.

While it’s believed someone is in custody, District Attorney Gary Pasqua won’t confirm that, and only says the investigation continues.

“Until we are in a position that we are confident that all of the individuals are known to law enforcement and we are confident that we have those individuals identified and are able to prosecute those individuals, that’s why I am not going to comment of whether it’s one individual or multiple individuals,” he said.

As for Frederick Wing, his attorney is happy that his client is able to be out of jail.

“In the north country, it can sometimes take up to two years. But if we look at the timeline for Wing, he was arrested on February 11 and he got released from the custody of the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s (Office) on March 3. It’s a very short time period,” said Ed Narrow.

Narrow says the murder charge against Wing could be dropped within the next 30 days.

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