THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 19, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
NY Post
New York Post
28 Aug 2023


NextImg:Man busted for fatally strangling roommate in mail dispute, dismembering body after 56 days

A man allegedly killed his roommate whom he suspected of stealing mail — and kept his body in a basement for nearly two months before dismembering him with a hacksaw, according to a report.

John Hallett, 48, was arrested on Thursday in Cambridge for the 2017 murder of Paul Gonzales in their Michigan City, Indiana, home, according to a report by the Times of Northwest Indiana.

Hallett — an amputee — reached out to Michigan City Police Detective Lt. Anna Painter last August and allegedly admitted that he used the crutch to clobber Gonzales from behind before strangling him to death on Nov. 25, 2017.

“John believed that Paul was stealing his mail and that Paul was trying to get him kicked out of the house,” Painter said in an affidavit, cited by the outlet.

The alleged killer first moved Gonzales’ corpse into a bedroom for a few days, and then moved the body to the basement where he kept it for 56 days before taking a hacksaw to it, according to the affidavit.

John Hallett was arrested last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the 2017 murder and dismemberment of roommate Paul Gonzalez.

Hallett allegedly dismembered and disemboweled the body, placing the parts in trash bags and dumping them in public trashcans around the city, according to Painter and Michigan City police.

Police used cadaver sniffing dogs and lab testing to confirm that Gonzalez’ body had been kept in the basement, Painter said.

She received the arrest warrant for Hallett on Aug. 8, leading authorities to track him down in the Bay State.

Local neighbor Alex Garito

Cambridge resident Lindsay Garito said she was shocked to learn of the arrest and charges that Hallett faced.

Building where John Hallett was arrested in Cambridge.

An arrest warrant was issued against Hallet earlier this month in Indiana and cops eventually tracked him down to the Bay State where he’s awaiting extradition.
Google Maps

He was awaiting extradition to Indiana in the Middlesex Jail & House of Correction on charges of murder and abuse of a corpse.

Hallett and Gonzales — who were then-homeless — were placed in the residence together by a local non-profit in 2015.

Neighbors on the quiet street in Cambridge were shocked to see cops arresting Hallett and to learn what he was accused of.

“There was a commotion out front of the building that’s across the street and a man walking out in handcuffs, which caught my eye as unusual,” resident Lindsay Garito told Boston 25 News last week.

“He looked about as normal as they come, he was calm, he just walked out of his building in a large group,” Garito said.

“Just thinking of living that close to someone that’s taken another human’s life is definitely unsettling,” she added.

Another neighbor, Alex Majetich, told media: “I was walking to the gym and I saw probably like 20 men in bullet proof vests and I assumed they were shooting a movie or something because this stuff like doesn’t happen around here.”