EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — An Arlington man admitted stabbing a 73-year-old woman to death and pleaded guilty Thursday in Everett to first-degree murder.
The Daily Herald reports 34-year-old Paul Williams faces more than two decades behind bars when he is sentenced in July in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Williams has a history of mental illness and court papers say he thought he had to kill Shirley Freeman or face eternity in hell. Freeman lived next door to Williams’ parents in Marysville.
State doctors found Freeman competent to stand trial. His lawyer said he decided not to pursue an insanity defense.
