NEWPORT — Two more people have pleaded guilty to their involvement in dumping the body of a man suspected of having died in a drug overdose in Newport, making three defendants who have cut plea deals and leaving two charged in the case — a mother and son — still in jail as they await future court appearances.

The charges to which the individuals pleaded guilty stem from the death of a 40-year-old Newport man who overdosed at a home on Paradise Road in March and whose occupants kept the body covered with a sheet under the kitchen table for days until they removed the corpse and left it in the woods a hundred yards from the house, according to court records.

Ryan Palmer, 32, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of conspiracy in abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to 12 months, with 65 days credited in pretrial confinement, according to court records.

Palmer also pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy in falsifying physical evidence, for which he received a 3½- to seven-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison, all suspended, court records show.

But Palmer, who had been out on bail and facing felony domestic assault charges at the time of the Newport crime, received a stiffer three- to seven-year sentence in state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree domestic assault.

Palmer will serve the misdemeanor sentence for abusing a corpse concurrently with the felony domestic assault sentence, which then will be followed consecutively by the suspended felony sentence for falsifying evidence.

Meanwhile, Candace Fontaine, 31, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of conspiracy in abuse of a corpse and also was sentenced to 12 months in the Sullivan County House of Corrections, with 62 days credited for pretrial confinement, according to court records.

Fontaine also pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy in falsifying physical evidence, for which she received a 3½ to seven-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison, all suspended for five years, court records show.

Palmer’s and Fontaine’s guilty pleas follow that of Jacob Ayotte, 19, who last month pleaded guilty to conspiracy in abuse of a corpse and no contest to falsifying physical evidence. He is currently serving a 12-month sentence in Sullivan County jail.

Jacob Ayotte’s mother, Laurel Ayotte, 50, and his older brother, Christopher Ayotte, 27, remain in pretrial detention in Sullivan County jail. Laurel Ayotte is scheduled for a dispositional conference in Sullivan County Superior Court on July 6. Christopher Ayotte’s dispositional conference is scheduled on June 22.

(Dispositional conferences are routine court hearings in which both prosecution and defense parties meet with the judge to discuss outstanding issues in the case, such as discovery, potential motions and if they think the case is headed to plea or trial.)

“Ms. Fontaine accepted responsibility for her conduct and pleaded guilty. She admitted her crimes to the police and she was the person who actually led the police to the body when they had not been able to find it,” Richard Guerreo, Fontaine’s attorney, said via email on Tuesday. “She apologized to the family at the sentencing hearing and expressed great remorse for her actions.”

Attorneys for Palmer did not respond to messages for comment.

The back-to-back plea deals come only nine weeks after the five suspects were arrested and charged with dumping the presumed overdose victim’s body in the snow-covered woods in late March. Police said they made the grim discovery at the scene after initially going to investigate a missing person report.

Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway called the relatively short disposition of the three defendant cases a “reflection of the quality of the investigation done by Newport police along with state police.” The hearings and resolution were reached in conjunction with prosecutors, defense and families of the victims, he said.

Police were already familiar with the drug activity at the residence — which they described as a “flop house,” reeking of dog feces and garbage — as it had been the address of a drug fatality only two weeks earlier, according to court documents.

The man whose body police found in the snow in the woods near the house had been driven there by a family member in early March and had not been heard from since and was reported missing.

But when police arrived at the Ayotte residence to inquire if the occupants knew the whereabouts of the missing man, the people inside the house initially said the missing man had left and they didn’t know where he went.

Later, police received a tip that the missing man had overdosed and people at the house had “disposed of” the body, court documents say. Police said they detected the unmistakable smell of bleach and cleaning materials when they visited the house, leading them to believe an attempt to clean up incriminating evidence had been made.

Laurel Ayotte initially told police she did not know where the missing man had gone but under further questioning said he had died from a drug overdose at the house and his body had lain under a sheet in the kitchen before they rolled it onto a blanket and carried it to the nearby woods, according to court documents.

Police said they were eventually directed to search the woods for the missing man’s body by Fontaine, where they found the body covered in newly fallen snow.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.