#Ohio man cut off fingers, tattoos of woman found in barrel: court docs

An Ohio man cut off a woman’s fingers and used a razor to remove her tattoos before stuffing her naked body in a barrel, court documents show.

Ex-con William Slaton, 35, was arrested on June 30 when cops responded to his home to check out a report that a woman was inside a barrel there, Middletown police announced late last month.

When officers told Slaton why they were there, he went back inside his home and into his backyard before tossing a barrel over a fence, police said.

The body of a woman — who was identified Tuesday as 21-year-old Cecily Cornett, of Somerville — was discovered inside the barrel, police said.

Slaton told detectives he found Cornett’s body hanging in his basement after he used narcotics one morning. He then hacked off her fingers and used a razor knife to cut out her tattoos, according to court documents obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Investigators later found a bowl containing Cornett’s fingers and excised skin in Slaton’s home, according to court records cited by WHIO.

Cornett’s nude body was also covered in flies when cops made the grisly find, police said.

Slaton let the woman’s body stay in his basement for several days before putting her inside a barrel in his backyard, he reportedly told police.

Slaton, who is facing charges of gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and failure to report a crime or death, was expected to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Middletown, the Enquirer reports.

Cornett’s cause and manner of death are still pending, according to the Butler County Coroner’s Office.

Additional charges may be filed in the case, police have said.

Slaton was released from prison in 2018 after serving a seven-year sentence on a child pornography conviction, WHIO reports.