Whether they were shopping, traveling or daydreaming on drives around Lake Nokomis, Sam Nordquist and his mother Linda, of Oakdale, spent countless hours together.

But on Saturday, Linda Nordquist and her children Mason and Kayla were in New York State grieving for Sam, whose body was found Thursday in a field in upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region.

Officials believe that five people had physically and psychologically abused Nordquist since December at a motel outside Canandaigua, N.Y., miles from a field in Yates County where his body was discovered Thursday.

According to the New York State Police, the Ontario County District Attorney’s Office has charged Precious Arzuaga, 38, and Jennifer Quijano, 30, both of Geneva, N.Y.; Kyle Sage, 33, of Hopewell, N.Y.; and Patrick Goodwin, 30; and Emily Motyka, 19, both of Rochester, N.Y., with second-degree murder/depraved indifference in connection with Nordquist’s death. All five were being held at the Ontario County jail.

It was unclear when the defendants will appear in court, and officials did not return requests Saturday for the charging documents. The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.

Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man, worked at the Riesco group homes for people with disabilities based in Little Canada. Family members said he left Minnesota in September to meet his online girlfriend in New York, but lost contact with him on Jan. 1. He was reported missing on Feb. 9.

“Sam was a wonderful person, all full of life,” Linda Nordquist said, who “would take his shirt off his back if you needed it more than he did.”

On trips into St. Paul to look at the houses on Summit Avenue, she said, Sam would point to the Governor’s Mansion and ask whether that was where Tim Walz lived.