Coroner identifies remains found in trash can in Middletown

The Butler County Coroner's Office has released the identity of human remains found in a trash can in Middletown in July.

The remains are that of 35-year-old Asiah Nicole Slone, the coroner's office determined.

The badly decomposed remains were found about 11 a.m. in the 1000 block of Centennial Street near Yankee Road. They were discovered by people searching for Slone, who loved ones said had been missing since June.

On August 20, police arrested 58-year-old Perry Hart for aggravated murder.

On July 11, Hart was walking in the same area where the remains were discovered and was arrested by Middletown police for having weapons under disability when two guns were found in his backpack, according to police and court records.

According to a police report, the women who found the remains, “stated on (July 1), while driving through the alley, they stopped to look into a large brown Rumpke trash can, where they believed they had located what appeared to be human remains,” according to the police report.

The coroner's office has not yet released any information about what Slone's cause of death may have been; the coroner's report released Friday still listed the cause as "pending."

Butler County prosecutor Mike Gmoser said based on what he personally reviewed of the remains, including what appears to be two bullet holes in the skull, one with a bullet in it, and other physical identification of the missing woman, he “gave the opinion to the police agency in Middletown that based upon my review of the evidence that we had despite the absence of DNA results, I had in my opinion sufficient evidence to establish and inference that he should be charged with aggravated murder.”

He said police were looking for him to “green light” the investigation and he did.

The prosecutor added he did not want the suspect free on the streets and if DNA results prove to be wrong “that is on me. It was my determination. If I happen to be wrong in this it will be on me,” Gmoser said.

Watch Live: