FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Court documents have revealed more gruesome details about a Fort Wayne homicide.
Matthew Cramer, 21, and Jacob Carreon-Hamilton, 20, are responsible for the death — and dismemberment — of Shane Nguyen, 55.
Cramer, Carreon-Hamilton, and a third person, Cody Clements, led police on a high-speed chase Sunday morning. After police backed off because of “unsafe conditions,” the suspects crashed the van into the back of a house, and then ran away.
Inside the van, police found the dismembered body of Nguyen in trash bags. They also found receipts from stores in Goshen that listed items like tarps, a hacksaw, shovels, a large knife, and a plastic tub.
An autopsy found Nguyen died from blunt force trauma to the head, and the Allen County Coroner’s Office ruled his death a homicide.
All three suspects were arrested on Monday. Cramer faces charges of murder, resisting law enforcement and abuse of a corpse. Carreon-Hamilton is charged with assisting a criminal, resisting law enforcement and abuse of a corpse. Clements remains in custody but charges have not been filed against him yet.
Cramer told detectives he asked Nguyen for a ride from Elkhart to Fort Wayne, and planned to kill Nguyen, but did not say why. When they arrived to Cramer’s storage unit on North Coliseum Boulevard, he put Nguyen in a chokehold until he became unconscious. That’s when Cramer slammed Nguyen’s head on the pavement, and dragged his body into the storage unit.
He then drove back to Goshen to buy items with Carreon-Hamilton and Clements. After they did so, Clements was dropped off, while Carreon-Hamilton and Cramer drove back to Fort Wayne to dismember the body. The affidavit says Carreon-Hamilton “was coaching” Cramer on “how to cut the body.” The two then put the body parts into the back of the van to dispose of it, but that’s when police found them behind a building and started the high-speed chase.
