This horrific crime is arguably one of the most disturbing of its time and is sure to make anyone’s skin crawl. One wouldn’t expect such a sick tragedy like this to occur in a small town in Ohio. 35-year-old William Slaton, resident of Middletown living on Yankee Road, was arrested on felony charges after police found the mutilated corpse of 21-year-old Cecily Cornett in a barrel on his property.
The incident began when Middletown Police were informed of a complaint regarding a body. When officers arrived at Slaton’s home they knocked on the door and informed him about this complaint.
However, he refused to let them enter and instead ran out to his backyard with a barrel which he proceeded to throw over the fence into his neighbor’s yard.
Upon opening the barrel, officers discovered Cornett’s naked body that had been mutilated and covered with blowflies. It was later identified through dental records as belonging to Cecily Cornett from Somerville in Preble County who was an avid outdoorswoman who loved hunting and fishing.
Slaton gave detectives an alternative story for what happened to Cornettt’s body where he claimed he found her hanging dead in his basement after taking drugs one night.
Instead of alerting authorities however, Slaton decided to take matters into his own hands by dismembering her corpse and cutting off all of her fingers before removing her tattoos with a razor blade – all while keeping her remains hidden in Tupperware containers for days before eventually stuffing her into the drum located in his backyard.
Upon further investigation it is revealed that this isn’t William Slaton’s first run-in with law enforcement either; back in 2011 he pleaded guilty to six counts of child pornography possession which lead to a sentence of 7 years behind bars.
Fast forward to present day and it appears this wasn’t long enough as now he faces additional charges following Cecily Cornett’s death including gross abuse of a corpse, evidence tampering and failure to report a crime or death.
Marilyn Hardy Cornett posted on Facebook about how much she loved her daughter insisting that she was not homeless nor an addict but rather just “very loved”. Moreover Teresa Sheppard added that Cornett had always put smiles upon people’s faces with her bubbly personality whenever she came over for visits – making this incident even more tragic than it already is as yet another innocent life has been taken away too soon.
