The woman accused of murder in the strangling death of a college student from Cobb County will plead guilty, her attorney told the AJC Wednesday.
Police in Carroll County said last year that Farrah Strength confessed to the murder of Marcelle "Marcy" Elliott, a University of West Georgia student, and led them to her body in a swamp.
Now Strength, 30, accused of the murder along with Joshua Clay, 32, will admit guilt in court, said her attorney, Jason Swindle.
He said Strength will appear in Carroll County Superior Court Thursday morning to accept a plea deal negotiated with prosecutors.
"This arrangement was reached Friday after months of investigation and negotiation," Swindle said. He wouldn't provide details about the plea, and the Carroll County prosecutor's office wouldn't confirm a deal had been struck.
Carroll Assistant District Attorney David Taylor did confirm Wednesday that his office had been negotiating with Swindle and that the defense had scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. Thursday. "I can't go into any detail on that," he said.
Elliott, 21, was living with her parents in Kennesaw in July when she drove the 50 miles to Strength's home near the University of West Georgia. She was strangled there, according to police, and her body was dumped at a swamp eight miles away.
Authorities have not revealed a motive for the killing. Police have said the two women were friends who hadn't talked for over a year after a disagreement. They had studied together though the older Strength wasn't in college, police said, adding that the women had a mutual interest in psychology and forensics.
Police have not elaborated on Clay's relationship to the two women. He is scheduled for trial in August on the same charges faced by Strength: malice murder, felony murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and tampering with evidence, Taylor said. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in the case.
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