MARION, Ill. -- Confessed serial killer Timothy W. Krajcir pleaded guilty Friday to the 1978 murder of a Marion woman and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The sentence for the murder conviction will run consecutively with a sentence of the same length Krajcir, 63, received Dec. 10 for a 1982 murder in Carbondale, Ill., meaning Krajcir will spend the next 80 years behind bars.

Now he faces five murder charges and three rape charges in Cape Girardeau, kidnapping and burglary charges in Kentucky and a murder charge in Pennsylvania.

In exchange for the guilty plea, one of the two counts of murder Krajcir faced in the Witte killing was dismissed. That count charged him with causing her death while committing the felony of rape.

With the guilty plea, Krajcir admitted to having strangled Witte with his bare hands May 12, 1978.

According to the facts as read by Williamson County State's Attorney Charles Garnati, Krajcir confessed Dec. 11 to seeing Witte driving around her neighborhood and followed her in his own vehicle.

He admitted to forcing his way into her house when she got home and sexually assaulting her before strangling her for several minutes.

Krajcir then confessed to slashing Witte with a knife, and then, not convinced she was dead, taking up a second knife and stabbing her several times before putting his clothes on and leaving the house, Garnati said.

Physical evidence collected by police at the scene had been preserved and would have corroborated the confession at trial, Garnati said.

Because of the guilty plea, Marion detective Tina Morrow said the physical evidence had not yet been submitted to the state crime lab for DNA testing.

"We're very satisfied after all these years we were finally able to bring justice to Mrs. Witte," Garnati said after the hearing.

Morrow said she breathed a heavy sigh of relief that the legal proceedings, and the case that languished for nearly 30 years without resolution, were over.

She said she will continue to follow the rest of the charges against Krajcir.

Now that the Williamson County charges have been resolved, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said Friday that Krajcir will be extradited to Missouri as soon as possible from Tamms Correctional Center in Tamms, Ill.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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