MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A second suspect has been arrested in the shooting death of a woman whose remains were found in a trash can in Middletown.
Brandon L. Davis, 45, was charged with complicity to aggravated murder and given a $1 million bond in court on Friday.
The warrant was issued as a result of the ongoing investigation into the body found in a trash can in the alleyway behind 1005 Centennial Avenue.
Prosecutors read a statement from police that said Davis told investigators he shot the victim first then handed over the gun to Perry Hart to "finish her off." The victim was found with two bullet holes in her head.
The victim was identified as Asiah Slone of Middletown.
Hart, 58, was arrested on Aug. 20 on a aggravated murder charge in connection with Slone’s death and indicted by a grand jury a week later for aggravated murder with a gun specification and a repeat violent offender specification, kidnapping, murder and two counts of having weapons under disability.
Bond for Hart was set Wednesday at $1.5 million during an arraignment by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster Jr.
Slone, 35, who had been reported missing in June, was identified by the the Butler County Coroner’s Office through DNA testing two days after Hart’s arrest.
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said last week from the evidence he viewed there appears to be two bullet holes in the skull, one with a bullet in it.
Gmoser told WCPO's partner, the Journal-News, they believe Hart moved Slone while she was still alive.
The decomposed remains were found July 1 in the 1000 block of Centennial Street near Yankee Road.
On July 11, Hart was walking in the same area and was arrested by Middletown police for having weapons under disability when two guns were found in his backpack, according to police and court records.
If convicted, Davis faces anywhere from life with parole after 20 years to the death penalty, and a maximum fine of $25,000.
