Guilty Plea, Life in Prison For Bucks County Man in 2010 Murder of Girlfriend
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By Brad Segall
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DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- A Bucks County man today admitted in court that he kidnapped and murdered his former girlfriend more than two years ago (see related story), dumping her body in a Camden County creek.
On the day his trial was scheduled to begin, 50-year-old Kenneth Patterson pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping and will spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility for parole.
Patterson took Diane Corado from her Falls Township apartment after striking her with a metal construction spike.
Prosecutor Michelle Henry says the motive was apparently a relationship gone wrong:
"He was angry that Diane Corado was ending the relationship with him, and when he learned that that was her intent, he decided that he wasn't going to have that."
Her body went undiscovered for more than two years, until Patterson earlier this year provided police with information that led them to the Newton Creek in Camden, NJ (see related story).
Henry says the guilty plea spares the family a trial and the endless rounds of appeals that come with a death penalty case.
