Elkhart man pleads guilty in dismemberment of Fort Wayne man

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A man accused of helping to kill and dismember a Fort Wayne man is pleading guilty.

Jacob Carreon-Hamilton, 20, of Elkhart, is one of the suspects in the death of 55-year-old Shane Nguyen. He’s is charged with abuse of a corpse, assisting a criminal in a murder, and resisting law enforcement.

Court papers say a friend of Carreon-Hamilton’s, 21-year-old Matthew Cramer, got a ride from Elkhart to Fort Wayne with Nguyen in Nguyen’s van on April 24. Cramer allegedly took Nguyen to a storage unit and killed him.

Cramer left Nguyen’s body in the storage unit, went to Goshen, and picked up Carreon-Hamilton and a third man, 20-year-old Cody Clements. Evidence shows the trio purchased tarps, hacksaw blades, and shovels before Carreon-Hamilton and Cramer returned to the storage unit.

Inside the storage unit, the pair cut up Nguyen’s body and placed the parts in trash bags, court papers say. The remains were then loaded into the back of Nguyen’s van.

On the morning of April 25, Fort Wayne police spotted the van. When they tried to stop it, the van sped off and a chase ensued. The van eventually crashed in a yard and Carreon-Hamilton and Cramer ran off. When police searched the van, they found the trash bags containing Nguyen’s remains.

Officers searched the storage unit and found a tarp with blood on it and a large knife, along with some of Nguyen’s belongings.

Carreon-Hamilton and Cramer were arrested on April 26.

The Goshen News reports Carreon-Hamilton will be sentenced in December, shortly after Cramer’s trial is set to begin.