A Venango County man has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into a suspicious death of a woman.
Clayton Hindman, 48, was arrested Saturday in Missouri and charged with offenses related to the death: aggravated assault, possession of a crime instrument with intent, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person.
“Hindman is our person of interest. He turned himself in over the weekend in Missouri,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michelle McGee said in an interview with Butler Radio on Monday.
This death investigation started last Thursday when police were called to make a welfare check at Hindman’s home on Hillcrest Avenue in Polk- which is a small town just north of Butler County near Franklin. Police got inside and found a woman’s badly decomposed body in the living room. Hindman was not there.
Police were contacted by Hindman’s daughter to check on her father’s welfare after she had not heard from her father in several weeks, according to court documents.
“Upon arrival, (police) found the residence locked and a foul odor coming from inside,” State Police Trooper Keith Johnson wrote in a criminal complaint.
A landlord let police inside the home, and that’s when officers discovered the “severely decomposed” body.
Because of the state of the body, authorities have not yet confirmed the identity of the remains but believe they likely belong to 38-year-old Salina Chilson of Emlenton, who has not been seen or heard from since July 3. The Venango County Coroner estimated the victim had been deceased for several weeks, according to court documents.
Investigators say Chilson’s purse and driver’s license were discovered inside the home and the deceased female had a necklace that looked like the one Chilson was wearing when she was reported missing.