Man pleads guilty in 1997 slaying of Michigan woman, 88

FLINT (AP) — A man arrested last year in the 1997 killing of an 88-year-old Michigan woman has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in the long unsolved case.

Michael Adam Bur, 42, was scheduled to stand trial in early 2023 on charges of felony murder, kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Mary Prieur's slaying.

But he appeared Monday before a Genesee County Circuit Court judge and pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the kidnapping charge.

Bur's plea agreement calls for a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison and lifetime monitoring as a sex offender. His sentencing is set for Jan. 24.

Prieur's body was found in February 1997 in a wooded area near her residence in the Genesee County village of Lennon. Prieur, who had been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted, had emigrated from Czechoslovakia as a child and later operated a candy business in Flint.

Bur was 17 and had lived near Prieur's house at the time of her killing,

A DNA sample taken from Bur in the months after the crime remained in storage until 2021, when a Michigan State Police Crime Lab used more advanced techniques than what existed in 1997 to link him to samples taken from the murder scene.