Coroner Identifies Body Mutilated Inside Metal Drum – Authorities have identified a 21-year-old woman found dead and dismembered inside of a barrel.
Authorities with the Butler County Coroner’s Office identified the victim Tuesday as Cecily Cornett, of Somerville, Ohio.
Cornett’s body was discovered by police June 30 at a home in the 3200 block of Yankee Road.
A tip from a man in Tennessee led Middletown police to the home last Tuesday, where they found a Cornett’s mutilated body inside a metal drum.
“There’s supposed to be a person inside that overdosed about three days ago … as far as I know, the body’s still there, that’s what I was told,” the man said in his 911 call.
The man told a dispatcher that he didn’t know who was dead, and he was getting the information from a relative.
“She said that somebody died of an overdose (inaudible) ago and somebody put it in a 55-gallon drum,” the caller said.
Police said when officers arrived at the house, they were met at the door by William Slaton, 35, and requested to check his yard for a drum and body.
According to court documents, Slaton said they could check and closed the door. Officers heard someone go out the back door followed by a loud noise. Officers said they saw Slaton throw a metal drum over the fence.
“Upon opening the metal drum, we discovered a nude white female,” court documents state.
According to the documents, Slaton admitted to being at the house with the deceased female. “He advised after using narcotics that he woke and went into the basement where he found the victim hanging in the basement,” documents state. “Mr. Slaton stated that he then used a sharp object to cut off all of the victim’s fingers. He then used a razor knife to cut off all of the victims tattoos on her body. He put the items in a sealed bowl and hid the fingers and skin in the basement.”
Slaton reportedly told police that after the woman died, he allowed her body to lay in the basement of the home for a few days before he placed her body into the drum. Officers said upon executing a search warrant, they discovered a plastic bowl that contained human fingers and sections of tattooed skin.
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