"Darryl Walters did enter a plea of guilty yesterday (Thursday) as charged to one count of murder, exactly as he was indicted and charged on," said Aaron Haslem of the Adams County Prosecutor's Office.
Walters 44, whose last known address was Sciotoville, was tried in Adams County because that is where Powell's body was found, at a location known as Coffee Hollow Road.
"The sentencing has not occurred yet, but he will probably be getting, I would assume, the standard sentence which is 15 years to life. You can't go any lower or any higher than that," Haslem said.
Walters was in Scioto County Jail for a number of hours in May for arraignment on eight counts.
"He is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, two counts of tampering with evidence, and two counts of abuse of a corpse," said Scioto County prosecutor Mark Kuhn following his arraignments.
The Scioto County arraignment was for the deaths of Aleisha Frazee, 19, of 802 Harvard Place, Portsmouth, some time between Oct. 24, 2001 and Oct. 28, 2001, and Tamara Lynn Smith of 1830 Ohio Furnace Road, Franklin Furnace, killed between July 2, 2004, and October 2004.
Smith's body was found in the city of Portsmouth, and according to Portsmouth Police Chief Charles Horner, the body was so decomposed, only the confession by Walters led to the charge.
Walters was in jail in Indiana when DNA evidence was discovered through Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
That sent both Adams County and Scioto County authorities to Indiana to question Walters. He did not confess to the murders at that time, but after being brought to Adams County, eventually confessed to the three killings.
Walters now will be tried in Scioto County for the two remaining murder charges.
FRANK LEWIS can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232.
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