(La Porte, IN) - La Porte residents feel even more nervous about plans to create housing for the homeless in their neighborhood after learning about a man who was charged with Homicide at a similar development in Michigan City.
Tammy Lorence, who lives on Rumely Street, said she had only heard rumors about the incident before the housing plans were approved last week by the City Council.
“It’s just very alarming. It’s just all very disturbing. I’m at a loss for words,” she said.
John Hallett, 48, allegedly notified police close to five years later that he killed a man. He has been charged in La Porte Superior Court 1 with Murder and Level 6 felony Abuse of Corpse.
According to court documents, Hallett called Michigan City Police last year, claiming he had killed an “old roommate” in late November 2017, in a home they shared in the 1000 block of West 9th Street.
Hallett said he and the victim, Paul Gonzales, were homeless until being placed into a shared residence by Housing Opportunities, a group with more than 200 low-income housing units in LaPorte and Porter counties.
During an argument, he told police he had struck the victim from behind with a crutch and choked him to death, before allowing the body to lay on the basement floor for more than 50 days. He then purportedly dismembered the decomposing body with a hacksaw, placed the body parts in plastic bags, and then disposed of them in municipal trash cans.
Hallett told police he killed the 64-year-old Gonzales because he thought the victim was stealing his mail and trying to get him evicted from their home.
Charges were filed after police spent about a year compiling evidence to try and substantiate the suspect’s claims. Without a body, Fagan said, police found no evidence of Gonzales ever making a rent or utility bill payment, let alone a cell phone call since his reported death.
A cadaver dog was utilized, which detected traces of decomposition in the pores of the concrete basement floor where Hallett claimed the victim laid until his disposal. Fagan said laboratory tests of the evidence gathered from the floor confirmed the material was from a decomposing human or animal.
“They tested the concrete so they were able to figure out some of this stuff,” he said.
Court records also revealed the two men were homeless for quite some time before placed into the home.
Housing Opportunities has more than a dozen low-income housing units in LaPorte and Michigan City, and more than 200 similar housing units in Valparaiso and Portage. The nonprofit group is behind plans recently approved by the LaPorte City Council on August 21st.
Under the plan, 16 affordable housing units for the homeless will go into the old Coca Cola bottling plant in the 200 block of Rumely Street, with a $7.5 million state grant.
City officials and other supporters touted the in-house services planned for residents to address matters like behavioral and substance abuse issues, as well as teaching job skills to help them get back on their feet. Supporters also spoke highly about housing applicants being carefully screened, in addition to a ban on anyone with a history of violent crimes against people and sex offenses.
Prior to the decision, residents near the new housing site expressed concerns about safety and declining property values in their single family home neighborhood.
They didn’t learn about the reported killing until several days after the council’s vote.
“It’s quite a shock. It’s just an unsafe feeling even more so now,” said Randy Milcoff, who lives in the neighborhood.
