YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A northeast Ohio man who was to go to trial Monday on a murder charge in a 15-year-old boy's bathtub drowning and dismemberment has pleaded guilty to reduced charges. David Sharpe, 46, of Youngstown, pleaded guilty Friday to reckless homicide, attempted tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse in the death of James Higham.
Authorities believe the remains of Higham were disposed of in trash bins and buried in a landfill. The prosecution and defense agreed to a 7 1/2-year prison term for Sharpe, who is to be sentenced April 16. Police think Sharpe drowned Higham in a bathtub in June 2001 after a domestic dispute. The boy had been staying with Sharpe and Sharpe's girlfriend, Jennifer Snyder, whose statement led to Sharpe's indictment.
The teen's father had at one time been married to Snyder's sister. Snyder, 35, reported the boy missing in January 2002. She pleaded guilty to gross abuse of a corpse and child endangering and was sentenced in 2007 to four years imprisonment.
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