Each week, syracuse.com will look back at some of our most important and valuable journalism from the previous week. Here are six stories for the week of April 6, 2025.
How owner Mark Congel lost control of historic Syracuse convent before fire ravaged it
The Sisters of St. Francis turned over the keys to their century-old convent to developer Mark Congel a decade ago. But Congel never moved forward his development plans. Instead, he stopped paying for private security to watch over the place, he told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. He wrapped a chain-link fence around it, which people easily cut. They stole stained-glass windows, smashed the organ and sprayed graffiti in the former chapel. An arson fire in March eventually destroyed the building’s roof and top floor.
The trap of lies, sex and cruelty that killed Sam Nordquist: ‘We went too far this time’
Sam Nordquist wanted love. He wanted a family. He thought he found it on TikTok. He announced in a video last fall that he’d finally met his other half. The video, captioned Mrs. and Mr. Nordquist, was posted Sept. 1. Photos of Nordquist scroll on the right. Pictures of Precious Arzuaga, his Mrs., scrolled on the left. But it was all a lie. She was a predator. Her bait: the promise of love. A room in a rural motel that Nordquist thought would be filled with love became the place where he was tortured to death by the very woman who promised him her heart…