
Police in Portland, Oregon, investigate the murder of 27-year-old Andrew Hathaway (KOIN).
An Oregon jury convicted a man of stabbing a friend 55 times and then stuffing his body in the trunk of the victim’s own car and lighting it on fire.
Robert Thomas Colon, 44, was found guilty of the Sept. 5, 2018, murder of Andrew Hathaway, 27, in Portland, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said last week in a press release. Before the trial began, Colon pleaded guilty to arson, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. He’s slated to be sentenced on Wednesday. Colon faces a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
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According to prosecutors, Colon and Hathaway were visiting a home where two other men lived, and they all got high. At some point during the night, Colon and Hathaway began a fistfight. Colon was winning the fight and Hathaway began screaming for help. The two other men broke up the fight and things calmed down for a bit. But then the fight started up again with “Colon beating and stabbing Hathaway until he was dead,” prosecutors said.
Colon and one of the other men moved the body to the trunk of Hathaway’s car. They then drove to a vacant lot and lit it ablaze. Fire crews put out the blaze and discovered the remains. Hathaway’s body was unrecognizable as 80% of his remains were charred, prosecutors said.
An autopsy determined he suffered 55 stab wounds and six slice wounds throughout his body. Authorities never publicly revealed a motive.
“This is some justice for the Hathaway family. They’ve been living with this for seven years. I’m glad we could finally bring them some closure. This was a lengthy, involved investigation with lots of misdirection from others in the beginning. But we saw it through and found the killer,” said Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet, who prosecuted the case.
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