Final person sentenced in Newport body dumping case

NEWPORT — A 50-year-old Newport woman has been sentenced to two years in the Sullivan County House of Corrections for her part in disposing the body of a 40-year-old man who is suspected to have died from a drug overdose at her home on Paradise Road last year.

In Sullivan Superior Court on Dec. 27, 2023, Laurel Ayotte received a 12-month sentence — less 280 days credit for the time she has spent in pretrial detention — on a misdemeanor conviction for abuse of a corpse to be served following a 12-month sentence on a felony conviction for falsifying physical evidence, according to state court records.

Ayotte had pleaded guilty to the crime last August.

Ayotte is the fifth and final person — which included her 29-year-old and 19-year-old sons — to be sentenced for involvement in disposing of the body of a Newport man in the woods. The man, who had been reported missing by his family, is suspected to have died from a drug overdose at the Ayottes’ residence on Paradise Road in Newport last March.

In addition to the three Ayottes, two non-family members also have been charged in the crime and have pleaded guilty.

— Staff report