DE QUEEN, Ark. (AP) — A 25-year-old Sevier County man has pleaded guilty to capital murder in the death of a 19-year-old woman in Horatio.
Cody Shane Griffin was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole after admitting in Sevier County Circuit Court that he killed Wendy Zapata Hernandez.
Prosecutor Bryan Chesshir told the Texarkana Gazette that he agreed to the plea deal because Hernandez's family didn't want to relive her death.
Griffin was charged with kidnapping Hernandez at knifepoint on Sept. 15 from the store where she worked and later cutting her throat and leaving her body in the trunk of her car. He was arrested that afternoon while walking along a county road wearing only boxer shorts.
Authorities say Griffin told them where Hernandez's body was in exchange for a cigarette.
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