Gary woman pleads guilty in 2013 killing of boyfriend

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) – A 43-year-old Gary woman accused of killing her boyfriend in 2013 has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

The (Munster) Times reports Santrina Echols pleaded guilty Wednesday, and a plea agreement calls for a sentence of 15 years in prison. She had faced a murder charge, and a trial was scheduled to begin Feb. 29.

Thirty-seven-year-old Clester Sims was found dead in a Gary residence July 13, 2013. An autopsy determined he died from asphyxiation due to smothering, compression and ligature strangulation.

The newspaper says Echols admitted to killing Sims while acting under sudden heat due to past domestic violence and the affair he was having.

Echols is set to be sentenced April 6.