Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Son gets 35 to 80 years in Pa. crash ruse deaths
BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — A New Jersey man has been sentenced to 35 to 80 years in prison for murdering his father and stepmother at their western Pennsylvania home, then claiming they died in a fiery car crash.
Forty-two-year-old Colin Abbott, of Randolph, N.J., was sentenced by a Butler County judge today. A day earlier he’d entered a surprise no-contest plea to third-degree murder in the June 2011 killings of Kenneth and Celeste Abbott.
Authorities contend Abbott dismembered and burned the bodies then scattered the remains on the family property about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh. He told relatives they were burned beyond recognition in a crash.
Prosecutors say Kenneth Abbott’s multimillion-dollar estate drove the killings.
Colin Abbott cried as his attorney told the court he regrets “what he has put his family through.”