CHARLOTTE (AP) ó A Union County man pleaded guilty Friday to kidnapping, raping and killing three Charlotte-area women between 1997 and 2006.
The Charlotte Observer reported that Scott Wilson Williams was sentenced to life in prison for three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree rape and kidnapping. Prosecutors originally had sought the death penalty.
The women were shot and their mutilated bodies were dumped near rural roads. He killed Sharon House Pressley in 1997, Christina Outz Parker in 2004 and Sharon Tucker Stone in 2006. He also pleaded guilty to crimes involving two more women, including attempted first-degree murder and first-degree sex offense.
Records show investigators seized assorted whips, chains, handcuffs, knives and handguns from Williamsí home.
Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey has said that Williams and three dead women knew each other because they ělived a high-risk lifestyle, and he was a part of that high-risk lifestyle.î
Pressley has been charged with prostitution seven months before she died, and both she and Parker both had drug convictions.
Records show that Stone pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanors over five years. Police said Parker and Stone knew each other.
Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com