Man jailed after woman’s body found in barrel in Middletown

Middletown police officers are investigating the “suspicious death” of a woman in the 3200 block of Yankee Road, said Maj. Scott Reeve.

Police were called around 1 p.m. Tuesday to investigate a report that a woman’s body was in a barrel at a home in the 3200 block of Yankee Road.

When officers spoke with 35-year-old William Slaton, police said he went inside the home, out to the backyard and tossed a barrel over the fence. When officers checked the barrel, they found a woman’s body inside, according to a release from the Middletown Division of Police.

The woman was not identified, and it’s not immediately known how or when she died.

Slaton was taken into custody and charged with gross abuse of a corpse, failure to report a crime or death and tampering with evidence, police said.

The Butler County Coroner’s Office was on the scene as of about 4:10 p.m. and police got a signed search warrant to collect evidence from the property as part of their investigation.

Additional charges are possible once the autopsy is complete and the case is reviewed by the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.