DULUTH, Minn. — A Cloquet man has pleaded guilty to killing a woman nearly 13 years ago.
Forty-two-year-old Joseph Couture pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Friday in St. Louis County.
Couture also pleaded guilty to witness tampering and aiding and abetting arson in the first degree. WDIO-TV (http://bit.ly/13LPUFs) reports he was sentenced to more than 39 years in prison.
In court, Couture admitted he murdered 33-year-old Trina Langenbrunner on Sept. 3, 2000.
Prosecutors alleged Couture, who lived a block away from Langenbrunner, stabbed her and left her on the side of a road near Brookston.
According to the complaint, on the night Langenbrunner died, a witness saw Couture, "covered in blood," light a fire, strip off his clothing and shoes and burn them.
The case remained unsolved until Couture's arrest last year.
