Man Gets 36 Years to Life for Grisly 'Body in Barrel' Killing

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – A man convicted of second-degree murder for the 2015 hammer killing of Ronald Sauvageau in Sonoma County was sentenced Tuesday to 36 years to life in prison, according to prosecutors.

Christopher Michael McNatt, 42, was convicted of the grisly crime last February after jurors deliberated for just two hours.

Prosecutors, who sought a first-degree murder conviction, said McNatt was on methamphetamine when he bludgeoned Sauvageau, 64, of Cazadero in the head with a hammer outside a trailer in the Acacia Grove Mobile Home Park in Sonoma Valley in March 2015.

The prosecution also told the jury McNatt became enraged when Sauvageau ignored his attempts at conversation because it reminded him how he was emotionally abused by his mother.

During his trial, prosecutors played a video of an interview by Sonoma County sheriff's detective Joseph Horsman during which McNatt says "I did become like a wild animal."

McNatt and Sauvageau were strangers and Sauvageau was dead within minutes of encountering the younger man, according to prosecutors.

The gruesome killing took a bizarre turn when McNatt then wrapped metal chains around Sauvageau's legs and dragged his dead body inside a home, stuffed it into a 55-gallon barrel and put the barrel containing the body in front of Sonoma City Hall.

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said in a statement that McNatt's sentence is appropriate given that it was "an act so horrific it defies comprehension."

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PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Man Charged In Hammer Killing Of Victim Found Dead In Barrel
• Coroner IDs Man Found Dead, Stuffed In Barrel Left Outside Sonoma City Hall
• Man's Body Dumped in Barrel Outside Sonoma City Hall, 1 Arrested

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