SHERBURNE – Earlier this afternoon, police found the buried remains of a man who disappeared last Tuesday, with the directions given to them by the man who shot him.

Chenango County Sheriff Thomas Loughren said Robert R. Reynolds, 46, directed his deputies to the location of where the body of Joshua D. Richheimer, 32, was buried. The body was located a hundred yards up the road from the Pleasant Valley Road house, across an open pasture buried with a backhoe some 40 yards into a wooded area.

Reynolds allegedly admitted to police that he is a drug dealer and claims he shot and killed Richheimer with a shotgun in self-defense. Reynolds said that Richheimer had come to his home armed with a shotgun with a desire to steal a quantity of marijuana. Police confirmed that both men had rap sheets and prior convictions concerning drugs.

Police confirmed a gun battle did take place inside the Sherburne residence belonging to Reynolds and that Richheimer was killed inside. “Yesterday we found the blood, the guns and the drugs. All we were missing was the body. This is now a homicide investigation,” said Loughren.

Sheriff’s deputies also arrested Reynolds’ neighbor, Nicholas S. Simonds, 21, and charged him and Reynolds with tampering with physical evidence, a Class E felony. Police believe that the shoot out between Reynolds and Richheimer did not involve Simonds, but that he did help to dispose of the body following the altercation.

According to police, the body was left in the home for a few days while the defendants decided what to do with it, eventually burying it in the woods.

Police searched the area late last night, but were forced to give up the search because of fading daylight at around 10 p.m. After returning at around 7 this morning, police had found the body by approximately 11 a.m.

Simonds was remanded to the Chenango County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 bail. Reynolds is being held on $1 million bail.