Man charged with abuse of corpse after body found in trash can in Butler County, police say

A man was charged with abuse of a corpse after police said a person who had been dead for days was found inside a trash receptacle in Butler County. 

The Butler City Police Department said officers started investigating on Monday after learning that there may have been a dead person at an apartment building on North Main Street.

When officers got there, police said they got consent from the resident to conduct a welfare check inside the unit. During the search, police said officers found a body hidden inside a trash receptacle. Investigators believed the man inside had been dead for days. 

The Butler County Coroner's Office responded to the scene and performed an autopsy. 

After an interview with detectives, police said the resident, identified as 64-year-old Cavell Watkins, said that the man had likely died from a drug overdose. He admitted to placing the victim's body in the trash receptacle several days afterwards, police said.

Watkins has been charged with a felony count of delivery of narcotics and a misdemeanor count of abuse of a corpse. After he was arraigned, Watkins was remanded to the Butler County Prison.

Butler police said the victim's identity is being withheld pending formal identification and notification of next of kin. The investigation is ongoing, and final toxicology results are pending, police said.