IndianaLocalNews

Guilty plea entered by suspect in 1988 murder case

George Kearney (left) and Barbara Brewster (Photos supplied/St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit)

One of two people charged in the 1988 beating death of a pregnant mother in northwest Indiana has pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors in St. Joseph County say 78-year-old George Kearney entered the murder plea Monday, three years after he agreed to speak with police about the slaying of 28-year-old Miriam Rice.

The pregnant South Bend woman was found at Pinhook Lagoon after she disappeared late at night while walking her dog.

The South Bend Tribune reports Kearney was in prison for an unrelated crime when he confessed and said his co-defendant, 56-year-old Barbara Brewster, was also responsible. Both were charged last year.

Court documents allege Brewster’s adult son later told investigators that Kearney abducted Rice as she walked her dog, and that his mother fatally beat Rice with tools in a van in June 1988. The son says he was in the van at the time.

Kearney faces 40 to 60 years in prison when sentenced March 29.

Brewster has a court hearing Tuesday and her trial is set to begin March 18.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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