WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who hid his friend’s body on a cluttered porch for three weeks after a fatal drug overdose was sentenced Thursday to spend a year in jail.

Xavier Broughton, 34, of Worcester, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges including disinterring a human body, The Telegram & Gazette reported.

The body of Justin Ramos, 27, was found beneath cardboard boxes and paper bags on the back porch at Broughton’s home on Jan. 29, 2018.

Ramos had gone to the home on Jan. 7 of that year for a party, prosecutors said.

The next day, Ramos’ mother contacted police when she did not hear from her son.


Police went to Broughton’s home to look for Ramos but did not find him. But Broughton’s story about what happened to his friend kept changing and on Jan. 29 a police dog helped find the body on the enclosed porch, authorities said.

Broughton initially said that Ramos must have been trying to keep warm and he didn’t know how he wound up on the porch. But he eventually told police that he had hidden the body on the porch.

The medical examiner concluded Ramos died of an accidental overdose from the combined effects of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.