A Milton man has been found guilty in Saratoga County Court in the trial of the man accused of killing Elvis tribute artist Thomas Krider.

Krider died during sexual roleplay, after Ronald Rayher, 71, used a chloroform on him.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed the roleplay was consensual.

Rayher was led away in handcuffs after the guilty verdicts on second-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 8 at 10 a.m. He faces 5 to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and 1 1/3 to 4 years on the tampering charge. They could run consecutively.

Defense’s closing arguments

Presenting his closing arguments first, Rayher’s defense attorney Kevin O’Brien attempted to make the case that Krider’s death was an accident. Rayher had testified that after he had given Krider multiple doses of chloroform, Krider decided to give himself one last dose. Rayher had gone upstairs to get ready for Krider to leave, and when he came back downstairs to check on him, he found him dead.

O’Brien zeroed in on something that one of the investigators said on the stand that he couldn’t prove either version of events happened.  

“You can’t provide it didn’t happen exactly the way Mr. Rayher said it happened,” O’Brien said.

Prosecutors said Rayher disposed of Krider’s personal items such as his eyeglasses and cell phone.

O’Brien told the jury that his client admits he panicked after he found Krider dead.

“Tragedy isn’t always a crime, and panic isn’t always an indication of guilt,” he said.

At the time, O’Brien said his client was going through a divorce with his husband. In fact, the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office had been at the residence the day before to oversee the removal of his belongings.

In addition, Rayher had just been diagnosed with cancer.

So, O’Brien said his client decided to rekindle a relationship with Krider.

The fantasy was for Rayher to “kidnap” Krider at his home in Ticonderoga and bring him to Milton, where they could role play. Rayher was the dominant person in the relationship.

They liked to engage this type of sexual behavior that some people would not understand, according to O’Brien.

“It’s not a crime to be different,” O’Brien said. “It’s not a crime to be a freak. It’s not a crime to be weird in this country – at least not yet.”

Rayher gave him chloroform a few times on the way by putting a mask over his face. They stopped at Target and bought stuff to engage in the role play.

O’Brien said Rayher noticed that Krider is starting to get sick and throw up.

After Krider starts to feel better starts to come out of it, they go into the store and buy the items. Krider was acting normally and picked up something at the pharmacy. He chatted with somebody he knew there.

They arrive at Rayher’s home and Krider receives more chloroform. They engage in their role play for a few hours.  

When they are done around 6:30 p.m., O’Brien said Rayher goes upstairs. When he comes down a few hours later, he sees Krider in the basement. He is not moving and has a rag in his mouth.

O’Brien said there was testimony that people can get a fatal dose from chloroform very quickly. Rayer believes that Krider cholorformed himself that last time.

His client did not come forward right away. O’Brien said Rayher was stressed and he wasn’t sleeping well. He was worried about all the details of his sexual fantasies getting out.

“Mr. Rayher walked in on his friend dead with all of these other things going on in his life, and he panicked,” he said.

“When people panic, they make bad decisions,” he said.

That included driving up to the Glens Falls area to dispose of Krider’s personal effects out the window of his truck.

When Rayher did come forward, he said his client was truthful with investigators.

He even led authorities to where he thought Krider’s belongings could be found.

Rayher told police that he thought about throwing Krider’s body in the woods, according to O’Brien. However, he did not act on that.

Prosecution’s closing argument

In her closing arguments, Buckley said Rayher’s story does not make sense. As seen in numerous text messages, the role play consisted of Rayher giving him chloroform – not Krider doing it on himself.

Buckley said that as a chiropractor who had a degree in chemistry, Rayher should have known better that using chloroform is dangerous.

“Every single drop of chloroform is dangerous, and this defendant was in a position to know that based on his education, medical background and the reading he had done on chloroform,” she said.

By his own testimony, he admitted that he administered about two drops at a time for a total of 10 by the time they arrived at Rayher’s home, Buckley said.

At one point, Krider got nauseous and threw up. By his own testimony, Rayher had said that maybe he should have not given him another dose.

Rayher told the court he wasn’t sure how much he had doused on a rag in his mouth.  

Then, despite stating that he is makes sure he is careful administering chloroform, Rayher heads upstairs and leaves Krider by himself.

When Rayher sees Krider dead, Buckley said Rayher begins to cover his tracks. He sent out a text message around 10:30 p.m. to Krider’s phone telling him to throw out the mask and chloroform – even though he knew that Krider was dead.

Then, Krider is wrapped up and covered with a tarp. Buckley said Rayher cleans up the scene to remove all traces of what happened there.

Rayher then drives up to dispose of the items.

Buckley said Rayher’s continued to go about his life as if everything was normal.

“You are picking up your phone and looking at people who have texted you and responding,” she said.

Rayher did errands, walked his dog and attended an eclipse viewing party on April 8. Buckley said a witness who testified said he was his normal cheerful self.

He doesn’t call police until Tuesday, April 9. He initially said he believes it is an overdose and doesn’t believe he is responsible.

“He had four days to think about what he was going to say – when he knew he couldn’t get out from under the situation,” Buckley said.

Buckley noted that during Rayher’s testimony on the stand, it was all about how Krider’s death was going to affect him – personally and professionally.

“He never expressed any sympathy. He said ‘poor TJ,’” Buckley said.

Buckley countered the argument that Rayher was ashamed of his sexual fantasies – saying that he shared what he was going to do with friends and even strangers, including a receptionist at the attorney’s office where he was discussing his divorce.

Reaction to the verdict

The jury of eight men and four women got the case at 1:30 p.m. It requested that the charges be read again just before 3:30 p.m. and rendered its verdict at 4 p.m.

Krider’s wife, Heide Greene, said after the verdict that she felt a sense of relief.

“I just want to thank the jury for allowing justice to be done,” she said.

Greene said he had “no words” for how she was feeling right at that point.

“It’s been hard – a lot of anger, a lot of depression,” she said.

Greene said her husband was the kindest person you could ever find.

“He would give the shirt off his back for anybody who needed him,” she said.

Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen said she is pleased that the jury evaluated 200 pieces of evidence over a two-week trial and came to the correct ruling – that Rayher recklessly caused Krider’s death.

“It sends a strong message this kind of conduct will be held accountable,” she said.

She also thanked the hard work of the investigators that compiled all that material including cell phone records, GPS data and other pieces of evidence.

O’Brien said his client was “incredibly disappointed” in the outcome. He blamed himself for not getting the jury to believe his client’s innocence.

“I’ve got to be better. I feel responsible for this,” he said.

When asked if he thought the outcome would have been different if Rayher reported the death to the police right away, O’Brien said he had asked himself that same question. However, didn’t think it would have.

O’Brien maintained that Krider’s death was an accident.

“He chose to engage in these acts. He knew what he was putting in his body. He did it before,” he said.

O’Brien said he believed Rayher will appeal. However, another attorney would handle that since that is not his area of expertise.