Middletown woman pleads guilty to dumping overdosed woman’s body in the woods

The second of two people charged with dumping a woman’s body in the woods after her overdose in a Middletown residence has admitted guilt.

Erica Robinson, 32, pleaded guilty Monday to tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. A second charge of gross abuse of a corpse, a lower felony, was dismissed.

Judge Michael Oster set sentencing for April 16, after a pre-sentence investigation is completed. Robinson faces up to 36 months in prison, but prison time is not mandatory.

MORE: Man sentenced for dumping body of woman after overdose

Last month, co-defendant Joshua Swenson, 28, took the same plea deal and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Swenson and Robinson, both of 2912 Wilbraham Rd., were indicted in September.

Both Robinson and Swenson told Middletown police that Leslie Dalton, 20, of Middletown overdosed in their house, and they waited until night before putting her body in a wheelbarrow, covering it with a sheet and then pushing it across the street to a wooded area.

MORE: Mom of Middletown woman found dead in woods speaks out

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.

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.”

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