In 2022, John Hallett was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he called Michigan City, Indiana, police to share the horrific details of his roommate’s death , according to police and news outlets.
During the call, Hallett said he struck Paul Gonzales with a crutch, then choked him to death in 2017 because Hallett thought Gonzales had been stealing his mail , WGN reported.
Hallett kept the body in the basement of their shared home for almost two months, then used a hacksaw to chop up Gonzales’ remains and distribute them across various public trash cans in Michigan City, according to Massachusetts State Police and WSBT.
As Michigan City Police started to investigate, they returned to the former home of Hallett and Gonzales with a cadaver dog, Massachusetts State Police said. The dog alerted officers to decomposing human remains still in the basement over five years later, police said.
This evidence is what police used to arrest Hallett in August 2023 in his Massachusetts apartment, police said. He was charged with murder and abuse of a corpse, according to Indiana court records.
McClatchy News reached out to attorneys representing Hallett for comment June 14 but did not immediately receive a response.
Hallett and Gonzales were placed in the home together by an organization working to help the unhoused, according to WSBT.
Hallett, 54, was found guilty of the charges in May and sentenced to 56 years in prison on June 13, according to court records and WGN.
Michigan City is along Lake Michigan, about a 60-mile drive southeast of Chicago.
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