Army Sgt. Patrick Rust

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt Patrick Rust, assigned to Fort Drum's Division Headquarters.

The mother of a Fort Drum soldier who went missing two months ago said she fears the worst for her son.

"I just have this feeling that something's wrong and he's laying out there someplace and somebody's got to find him," said Judy Rust.

Judy spoke to 7 News at her home in the St. Lawrence County town of Fowler.

Her home is filled with photographs of her 24 year old son, Patrick, a graduate of Edwards-Knox Central School.

Sergeant Patrick Rust, assigned to Fort Drum's Division Headquarters, was last seen March 15 walking from a business on Arsenal Street to an apartment he shared with another soldier.

The two soldiers had just left the Salmon Run Mall and Rust elected to walk the short distance to his apartment.

Fort Drum announced March 22 that Rust, who is assigned to the 10th Mountain Division's Division Special Troops Battalion, was listed as Absent Without Leave after not reporting for duty on March 16.

Rust had returned from Afghanistan in February. He had also served in Iraq.

His mother said she's convinced something happened to her son because he would have been in touch with her by now.

"It's not like Patrick. He usually calls two or three times a week. Even when he was in Afghanistan, we heard from him more than that. This is two months. He never went two months without calling us when he was in Afghanistan even," said Judy Rust.

On Tuesday, officials with the Watertown Police Department said they're treating Patrick Rust's disappearance as a missing persons case.

Lieutenant Frank Derrigo said there have been numerous reported sightings, but nothing has panned out.

Even with limited evidence, Derrigo said Rust there are indications that Rust could have met with foul play.

He said investigators are "very concerned" because there has been no activity with Sgt. Rust's bank accounts.

"We don't have enough to say what happened," said Derrigo.

Anyone with information about Rust's whereabouts is asked to call the Watertown Police Department at 786-2627.

Update: Body Confirmed as That of Missing Soldier
Friday, September 21, 2007, 12:09am



A body found Sunday in a hay field near Watertown is that of missing soldier Patrick Rust, the Department of Deense has confirmed.

The confirmation Friday morning follows an announcement Wednesday by Jefferson County sheriff John Burns that the body was 'tentativelky identified' as Rust.

Rust disappeared after March 16. He was last seen at a bar on Arsenal Street.

Rust was a member of the 10th Mountain Division's Special Troops Battalion.

An autopsy was performed by the military in Washington.

A statement from the sheriff's office Friday notes that the autopsy was performed by the chief forensic anthropologist of the 'Office of the Armed Services Medical Examiner.'

The cause of death is 'under investigation,' Burns said.

The body was found late Sunday afternoon in a field off Taylor Road in the Town of Hounsfield.

The body had been in the field 'for some time,' Burns told 7 News.

The body was found by a person working in the field.

Burns said the body was simply lying in the field, not buried or otherwise covered.