MORRIS – Otsego County Sheriff Richard J. Devlin, Jr. and Acting District Attorney Christopher J. Di Donna announced on New Year’s Day a Morris man was being charged with murder following a missing person investigation.

Investigators arrested David S. Hand, 58 of Morris, and charged with several felonies alleging he shot another man, 71-year-old Lynn B. Barton, of Morris, with a handgun in November and then attempted to cover up the crime.

On November 8, 2025, the Otsego County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the family of Lynn Barton, a resident of East Side Road in the Town of Morris.

The family reported they had not had contact with Mr. Barton for more than two days. Upon checking his residence, they located his vehicle, wallet, and cell phone however, Mr. Barton was not present, said police.

During the course of the investigation, deputies pursued several leads and responded to County Route 49 to interview an individual identified as the last known person to have contact with Mr. Barton on November 7, 2025.

Information obtained during that interview directed deputies to an area behind a vacant building on County Route 49, where Mr. Barton was discovered deceased. Multiple scenes were secured, and additional resources, including the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Unit, were requested.

Mr. Barton was transported from the scene by Otsego County Coroner Ed Stanimer to Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton for an autopsy, which was conducted on November 10, 2025.

The autopsy determined the manner of death to be homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the head.

Officials said ongoing investigation revealed Hand shot Mr. Barton with a handgun on November 7, 2025, at the County Route 49 location where he was located. Hand made no attempt to summon medical assistance or notify law enforcement, leaving Mr. Barton at the scene and covering the body. Further investigation determined that Hand also attempted to plan the disposal of the body by soliciting assistance from an uninvolved individual.

Hand was charged with second degree murder, a Class A-1-Felony; first degree criminal use of a firearm, a Class B Felony; tampering with physical evidence, a Class E-Felony and concealing a corpse, also a Class E-Felony

Hand was arrested at the Otsego County Sheriff’s Office and arraigned at centralized arraignment court and remanded to the Otsego County jail.

All charges are allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent of the charges until proven guilty in a court of law.

- Information from the Otsego County Sheriff and DA