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California Man Allegedly Killed, Mutilated Man Accused Of Raping His Girlfriend In Wyoming
“If your girlfriend would have gotten raped you would have killed him too,” Hunter Fulton allegedly told Laramie police officers of the victim, whose corpse was found in a motel room tub.
A California man is behind bars for allegedly murdering and attempting to dismember the corpse of a man who allegedly tried to sexually assault his girfriend last month in Wyoming, according to reports.
Hunter Fulton, 29, has been jailed on second-degree murder charges for killing another man, according to regional newspaper, the Laramie Boomerang. He was also charged with mutilation of a dead body, possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful attempt and aggravated assault and battery, the Laramie Police Department said.
According to court documents, Fulton's girlfriend told police that the two met the now-dead man, who investigators are only identifying by his initials M.T.C., while she and Fulton were out on a “date night,” ultimately drinking at Copper’s Bar on June 24. The girlfriend told law enforcement that she and her boyfriend were “hanging out” at the bar when the victim purportedly made a “sexual pass” at her. Fulton, who confronted the man, later bought the couple drinks, per the charging documents.
Fulton’s partner told police that she and her boyfriend then left the bar in the wee hours of June 25 and returned to their room at the Gas Lite Motel, where they proceeded to use cocaine. She alleged that Fulton momentarily left the motel suite, leaving the door open, at which point the victim entered the room brandishing a knife.
“[He] attempted to sexually assault [her] at ‘knife’ point,” court documents stated.
As Fulton returned to the motel room, he and alleged would-be rapist got into a physical confrontation, which ultimately led to Fulton allegedly shooting and killing the suspected intruder. Fulton's girlfriend returned to California on the afternoon of June 25, authorities said, leaving him with the body.
On June 27, the Laramie Boomerang noted, police issued a missing persons bulletin for a "Matthew Caggiano," which said he was last seen on June 25. On the day of Fulton’s arrest, the bulletin was updated that Caggiano had been located, and the case affidavit says that the victim matches a description of a man reported missing on June 27.
Authorities responded to the hotel on June 29, and apprehended Fulton in his running car. He allegedly told the officers that they would "find everything you need inside the room" at the hotel, explaining that he'd killed the man in defense of his girlfriend.
“If your girlfriend would have gotten raped you would have killed him too,” Fulton told responding officers on June 29, the Laramie Boomerang reported, citing the case’s probable cause statement.
Police allegedly found the victim’s body in a bathtub Fulton's room. Police, who observed the man had suffered cuts to his torso, seized a nearby saw and box of trash bags from the motel room — ultimately discovering that Fulton had purchased the items on June 25. A post-mortem examination determined that the man had been shot and the lacerations to his torso had occurred after death.
Fulton is being held at an Albany County Detention Center on a $1 million bond. If convicted, he faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
A spokesperson for the Laramie Police Department wasn't immediately available for comment when contacted by Oxygen.com on Monday afternoon.
