Ind. man admits role in woman's shovel death

KENTLAND, Ind. -- A man has pleaded guilty to charges that he and a friend abducted and killed a woman by cutting her throat with a shovel and left her in a shallow grave at an abandoned northwestern Indiana farm.

Twenty-six-year-old Aaron Flynn of Sumava Resorts made the plea Thursday in a Newton County court in the March 2009 death of his former landlord, 54-year-old Silvia Ricchio of Wheatfield.

Newton County Prosecutor Ed Barce tells the Journal & Courier of Lafayette that Flynn didn't have a plea agreement. Barce says Flynn's defense attorney contacted him saying Flynn wanted to plead guilty to the murder charges.

Flynn blamed 24-year-old Matthew Henderson for jumping on the shovel at Ricchio's throat.

Henderson has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to face trial in October.