Man confesses to murder of girlfriend whose remains are missing

Left: Troy Slaw (Macon County Jail). Right: Norma Crutchfield (Decatur Police Department).

An Illinois man pleaded guilty to murdering and dismembering his girlfriend in 2020 and disposing of the remains, which have still not been found, prosecutors said.

According to the Macon County District Attorney's Office, Troy Slaw, 47, pleaded guilty Friday to the brutal death of 41-year-old Norma J. Crutchfield. According to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime, Crutchfield's mother reported her missing on Nov. 20, 2020, after she went unreported for a week. Crutchfield had lived with Slaw in a home in the 1100 block of East Olive Street in Decatur. Her mother was worried something bad might have happened because Slaw had previously been abusive, the complaint states.

A few weeks after the disappearance, Decatur Police detectives interviewed a man named Chase Freeman, 24. After receiving his Miranda warning, he allegedly said that Slaw called him sometime in November and asked to come to his home after someone broke in. Freeman came over and Slaw led him to a bedroom closet, where he showed him a woman inside who had been stabbed to death, according to the affidavit. The body appeared to have been there for days, Freeman told detectives. Freeman identified the woman as Crutchfield after officers showed him a photo of her.

“Chase stated that Troy told him he stabbed the woman in the chest and killed her,” the complaint states. “Chase stated that Troy lined the bathroom with shower curtains, window curtains and plastic.”

The entire bathroom was covered, an electric saw was on the living room table and there were black construction bags everywhere, Freeman said. At first, Freeman denied disposing of the body, but later admitted to police officers that he helped, investigators said. In a subsequent interview, Freeman told investigators how he and Slaw had discussed ways to get rid of Crutchfield's body.

More on law and crime: Man prepared basement with tarp and saws before dismembering woman on first date and dumping remains “all over town”: Police

Slaw allegedly offered Freeman $200 if he dismembered the body and disposed of the remains in bags in dumpsters outside various residences. Freeman told Slaw he thought that was a “bad idea” because many homes were equipped with security cameras, cops wrote. Slaw then suggested dumping the bags in a lake, but Freeman was concerned the bags might float, the affidavit states.

Freeman reportedly described to investigators how he and Slaw took the body from the closet to the bathroom where it was to be dismembered. Freeman refused to participate in the dismemberment and left, the lawsuit says. He stood guard outside and watched as Slaw dismembered the body. The next day, Freeman reportedly helped Slaw clean up blood stains throughout the house. Freeman then brought two bags weighing between 40 and 60 pounds to his home and threw them in a large trash can, the lawsuit says.

“When asked if he thought Norma's body was in those bags, he replied: most likely,” the police wrote.

Police never found Crutchfield's remains.

According to the affidavit, police searched Slaw's home and discovered blood that belonged to Crutchfield. In 2022, investigators declared Crutchfield dead and charged Slaw with premeditated murder, desecration of a corpse, dismemberment of a human body and covering up a manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to premeditated murder on Friday, while the other charges were dropped, prosecutors say. A judge will sentence him on Sept. 4.

Prosecutors accuse Freeman of dismembering a human body and covering up a homicide. His case is ongoing and is scheduled to go to trial on September 5.

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Man confesses to murder of girlfriend whose remains are missing

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