Body found aboard former Navy ship leads to life sentence for Michigan man

Yfat Yossifor | The Bay City Times Cadets on board the Navy Sea Cadet ship Grayfox on the Annual Port-of-Call tour in Bay City. The Bay City Times

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PORT HURON, MI – Nearly two years after the body of a 44-year-old Port Huron man was found aboard a training vessel docked in Port Huron, the man found guilty of his murder learned what his punishment would be.

Reginald Cu-Nu Grasty will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for one count of open murder after being sentenced Monday, May 16, in 31st Circuit Court, according to online court records.

Grasty was also sentenced to a minimum of 5-10 years in prison for a charge of disinterment and mutilation.

The charges stem from the death of William M. Orlow, whose body was found in the summer aboard the USNSCS Grayfox, the largest Sea Cadet training ship in the country.

On June 23, 2020, Port Huron police officers responded to the vessel at 60 Griswold St. regarding a deceased person. Officers found Orlow deceased on the ship, though he was not identified until July.

An autopsy performed on Orlow’s remains just days after his body was found indicated his manner of death was homicide and his cause of death was “trauma-related,” according to the Port Huron Police Department.

Authorities in December 2020 issued a warrant for Grasty’s arrest.

Grasty previously lived aboard the Grayfox and worked as a caretaker, keeping it from freezing in the winter and keeping strangers from wandering on to it, The Times Herald has reported.

A jury trial began on March 8 before a verdict was reached on March 11.

Read more on The Flint Journal:

Police trying to ID homicide victim in Port Huron

Police ID man killed on former Navy ship in Port Huron

Murder, mutilation charges filed in man’s death on former Navy ship in Port Huron

Body found on former Navy ship in Michigan leads to man’s arrest and charges

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