A White Bear Lake, Minn., man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing a man in 2005 and then sinking the body in Neff Lake near Aurora.
Andy Wetherill, 27, entered the plea before 6th Judicial District Judge James Florey in the St. Louis County Courthouse in Virginia. He pleaded guilty to unintentional second-degree murder and interference with a dead body.
Wetherill admitted to killing Gabriel William Gonzalez, 24, by hitting him in the head with a flashlight in Wetherill's home in April 2005. He told the court that Gonzalez was going to do some construction work in his house and after he gave Gonzalez some money the victim demanded more. Wetherill claimed Gonzalez had a gun.
Wetherill had been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder. Under terms of a plea agreement Wetherill reached with the St. Louis County Attorney's Office, Florey will sentence the defendant to a guideline sentence of between 12 and 12½ years in prison.
The defendant told the court that he attached concrete blocks to the victim's body -- at the neck and at an ankle -- and sunk it in the lake. Wetherill's father, David, found the body on May 15 while building a retirement cabin near the lake.
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A forensic anthropologist from Hamline University was called in to help identify the body. The public also helped after several distinguishing tattoos on Gonzalez's body were described in media reports.
Neff Lake is about four miles south of Aurora off County Road 47 in White Township.
Florey ordered an Arrowhead Regional Corrections Officer to investigate Wetherill's background before sentencing, which is scheduled for June 19.
