Decatur man sentenced to 28 years for killing girlfriend in 2020

DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — Almost four years after a Decatur woman’s disappearance and murder, her boyfriend has been sentenced to nearly three decades in prison for killing her.

Troy Slaw, 47, was charged with first-degree murder, dismembering a human body and concealment of a homicide in connection to the disappearance of Norma Crutchfield in 2020. Last month, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

Slaw pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder while prosecutors dropped all other counts against him. On Wednesday, a Macon County judge sentenced him to 28 years in prison, a sentence he must serve 100% of.

Slaw was arrested and charged in May of 2022 after an 18-month investigation into Crutchfield’s disappearance. She was reported missing in November of 2020 by her mother Annette, who dropped her daughter off at her home at Olive and Jasper Streets then never heard from her again.

Decatur Police said in a sworn affidavit that Slaw and Crutchfield were dating at the time and lived together. Annette also told police that her daughter had been staying with her because Slaw once hit her, leaving her with two black eyes.

Testimony from another person, 23-year-old Chase Freeman, provided more clues to what happened. In the affidavit, police said Freeman told them that the month Crutchfield disappeared he was at the Olive Street house when he walked into Slaw’s bedroom and found a woman dead in the closet, with a knife wound to the chest. Police said they showed Freeman a photo of Crutchfield and he identified the body as hers.

Freeman also told Decatur Police that Slaw asked for help in disposing of her body. After initially refusing to help, Freeman said he came back the next day and stood guard on the front porch while Slaw dismembered Crutchfield’s body in the bathroom. Police said Freeman told them he carried two large garbage bags from the Olive Street house to his own and placed the bags in the garbage. Freeman told police it was most likely that the bags contained parts of Crutchfield’s body.

Search warrants that were executed at the Olive Street house found traces of blood and DNA in Slaw’s bedroom closet and the bathroom, as well as in the dining room and on the house’s carpet. The blood and DNA was a match to Crutchfield.

Freeman was arrested along with Slaw in May of 2022 and was charged with dismembering a human body and concealing a homicide. He also took a plea deal last month, pleading guilty to the latter charge while the former was dismissed.

Freeman was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, but after being credited for time already served and being eligible for day-to-day, he only has an additional four months left to serve.

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