2 in Middletown accused of dumping body will go to trial
Residents indicted in case of body found in woods.
Two Middletown BUTLER COUNTY — people charged with dumping a woman’s body in woods following her apparent overdose will have trials in 2018.
Erica Robinson and Joshua Swenson, both of 2912 Wilbraham Road, were indicted in September for tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse, both felonies.
Robinson, 32, and Swenson, 28, appeared Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Court, where their attorneys indicated both would be proceeding to trial. Swenson’s trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 11 and Robinson’s trial is scheduled for Feb. 22.
Family members of 20-year-old Leslie Dalton, the woman who allegedly overdosed in the Wilbraham Road residence, filled the front row of Judge Michael Oster’s courtroom wearing “Justice for Leslie” shirts.
Both Robinson and Swenson told Middletown police that Dalton overdosed in their house and they waited until night before putting her body in a wheelbarrow, covering it with a sheet and then pushing her body across the street to a wooded area.
Dalton, who had reportedly been missing since July 27, was found dead in a dry creek bed Aug. 13. Her body was badly decomposed, police said.
Robinson said she moved Dalton’s body and did not call police because she did not want to get a nuisance letter from the city, according to a Middletown City Jail booking report.
Robinson and Swenson are free on bond. Oster has ordered them to have no contact with each other until their trials.
Dalton, who attended Middletown City Schools, had a drug problem, her mother previously told this news outlet. She wanted to move her daughter away from Middletown, away from the bad influences in her life, her mother said.
After Dalton was released from jail, she was “doing so good,” her mother Rebecca Charlton previously said.
Then she returned to drugs.
“She made a mistake and relapsed,” her mother said. “Once she got a taste of it, it was back on.” Contact this reporter at 513705-2841 or email Lauren. Pack@coxinc.com.