Shattered Lives: Update on the Patrick Rust Unsolved Murder

Sgt. Patrick Rust was assigned to the 10thMountain Division headquartered at Fort Drum in Watertown, New York. In January 2007, he returned from deployment to Afghanistan. Following a 30 day leave he was back on post. The then 24-year-old Rust was a local boy and was familiar with Watertown and the surrounding area. He didn’t have a driver’s license or vehicle.

On Wednesday, March 14, 2007, Sgt. Rust moved most of his personal effects from the barracks on base to share an apartment with a fellow soldier at 156 Sterling Street, Apartment 4, in Watertown.

The following day Patrick rode back to the apartment with his new roommate after they were released from duty at around 5 pm. At around 6:30 they left the apartment in the roommate's car  and drove to the Salmon Run Mall. While there Patrick purchased some games for his Gameboy PSP player in the Best Buy store. They then went to the food court and got something to eat at Wendy’s. At around 7:50 the pair left the mall and split up a short time later, with the roommate stopping at a tanning salon and Patrick walking back to their apartment.

The next reported sighting of Patrick was between 9 and 10 p.m. at a well-known gay and lesbian bar on Arsenal Street called Clueless. It was an establishment Patrick had never been at before and it is unknown why he went there that night. Patrick reportedly left the bar at around 1 a.m. on March 16 and disappeared. His skeletal remains were found six months later in a farmer's field about five miles outside of Watertown. How he got to that location is unknown and his manner of death is undetermined.