A 23-year-old woman has admitted to her role in the killing of a man targeted for robbery who ended up being bound, gagged and asphyxiated in his southern Dakota County home last summer.

Ryann E. Smith of White Bear Lake pleaded guilty this week in Dakota County District Court to first-degree assault in connection with the death of 55-year-old Chris J. Lafontaine of Greenvale Township, whose body was found July 2.

In exchange for Smith's plea to aiding and abetting first-degree assault, prosecutors dismissed a count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. The agreement calls for Smith to receive a sentence of 6 2⁄3 years.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 2. With credit for time served since her arrest, Smith will serve just under four years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

The others charged also have pleaded guilty. They are Timothy Tuit, 36, of South St. Paul; Tuit's girlfriend, 26-year-old Stephanie M. Peabody, of Welch, Minn.; and Smith's boyfriend, Nicholas A. Taylor, 29, of St. Paul. Tuit and Peabody admitted to aiding an offender after the fact. Taylor admitted to second-degree murder. Tuit and Taylor are brothers.

Sheriff's deputies went to Lafontaine's home and found him dead in the bathroom after neighbors interrupted a burglary at his home. Cables were wrapped around Lafontaine's hands, feet and mouth. A rag and glove covered his mouth. The medical examiner ruled that he died from asphyxiation, according to the charges.

Shortly afterward, police in nearby Northfield stopped Lafontaine's SUV and arrested Tuit and Peabody. Taylor and Smith were located in Montana and arrested.

Peabody and Tuit told law enforcement that Smith and Taylor tied up Lafontaine and hit him with a large flashlight.

The Sheriff's Office said Lafontaine and the defendants were known to each other before the killing.