Northern Indiana man pleads guilty to killing 2-year-old

WARSAW, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana man faces a 50-year prison sentence if a judge accepts his guilty plea to fatally beating his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter who was found buried in a shallow grave.

Thirty-year-old Christopher Grimmett of Warsaw pleaded guilty but mentally ill to a murder charge during a Kosciusko (kahs-ee-AHS'-koh) County court hearing Monday. A judge set an Oct. 5 sentencing hearing on whether to accept Grimmett's plea agreement with prosecutors.

Authorities say Grimmett beat Adalin Stamper in November and buried her body behind his brother's home. An autopsy determined the child died from multiple blunt force injuries.

Investigators haven't released a possible motive for the attack. A motion to seek an insanity defense was filed earlier this year in the murder case.