Central NY man admits killing ex-girlfriend, 20

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A 21-year-old man has admitted killing his former girlfriend while she was home from college for Thanksgiving break and dumping her body in a park.

Syracuse media report that Steven Pieper, of Liverpool, pleaded guilty this morning in Onondaga County Court to second-degree murder in November’s slaying of 20-year-old Jenni-Lyn Watson.

Pieper admitted strangling and suffocating Watson inside her parents’ home in the town of Clay on Nov. 19 and hiding her body in a wooded area in a nearby park.

Watson had returned home from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., for Thanksgiving the day before she was killed. Searchers found her body eight days later.

Under a plea deal, Pieper will be sentenced to 23 years to life in prison on March 8.