A man is accused of murdering his roommate who was suspected of stealing mail – and kept her body in the basement for nearly two months before dismembering it with a hacksaw, according to reports.
John Hallett, 48, was arrested Thursday in Cambridge, Mass., for the 2017 slaying of Paul Gonzales at their home in Michigan City, Indiana, according to a report by the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Hallett — an amputee — contacted Michigan City Police Detective Lt. Anna Painter last August and allegedly admitted that she used a stick to strangle Gonzales from behind before strangling him on November 25, 2017.
“John believed that Paul had stolen his letter and that Paul was trying to get him kicked out of the house,” Painter said in the affidavit, cited by the outlet.
The alleged killer first moved Gonzales’ body into a bedroom for several days, then moved the body to the basement, where he kept it for 56 days before taking a hacksaw there, according to the affidavit.
Hallett allegedly cut up and removed the bodies, placed the parts in garbage bags and dumped them in public trash cans around town, according to Painter and Michigan City police.
John Hallett was arrested last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the 2017 murder and dismemberment of roommate Paul Gonzalez.
Police used cadaver dogs and lab tests to confirm that Gonzalez’s body had been stored in the basement, Painter said.
He obtained an arrest warrant for Hallett on Aug. 8, leading authorities to track him down in the Bay State.
He is awaiting extradition to Indiana at the Middlesex Prison & House of Correction on charges of murder and abuse of a corpse.
Cambridge resident Lindsay Garito said she was shocked to learn of Hallett’s arrest and charges.
Hallett and Gonzales — who were then homeless — were placed in the residence together by a local nonprofit in 2015.
Neighbors on a quiet street in Cambridge were shocked to see police arrest Hallett and learn what he was accused of.
“There was a commotion in front of the building across the street and a man walked out in handcuffs, which struck me as unusual,” resident Lindsay Garito told Boston 25 News last week.
An arrest warrant was issued for Hallett earlier this month in Indiana and police eventually tracked him to the Bay State, where he is awaiting extradition. Google Maps
“He looked normal when they came, he was calm, he just came out of his building in a big group,” Garito said.
“Just the thought of living that close to someone who has taken another human life is unsettling,” he added.
Another neighbor, Alex Majetich, told the media: “I was walking to the gym and I saw like 20 guys in bulletproof vests and I assumed they were filming a movie or something because this kind of thing doesn’t happen here.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
