Accomplice in dismemberment slaying sentenced to 5 years

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - A Fort Wayne man who pleaded guilty to charges in the dismemberment of a 55-year-old man was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Jacob Carreon-Hamilton, 22, of Elkhart, pleaded guilty in July 2021 to assisting a criminal, abuse of a corpse and resisting law enforcement.

Under a plea deal, Carreon-Hamilton testified earlier this week in the trial of Mathew Cramer II, who was found guilty Wednesday of murder, abuse of a corpse, and resisting law enforcement in the killing of Shane Nguyen in April of 2021. Cramer's sentencing is set for Nov. 28. The jury in his trial recommended he spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Investigators believe Cramer slammed Nguyen's head to the ground, killing him in a storage unit. Carreon-Hamilton used a cell phone to shoot video of Cramer hacking at Nguyen's body with a machete, and he admitted to helping dismember Nguyen's body, which was later found scattered in bags inside the victim's van, investigators said.