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Man Admits To Strangling Adoptive Mother

Posted: 12:46 pm EDT August 17, 2009Updated: 3:31 pm EDT August 17, 2009

EBENSBURG, Pa. -- A Cambria County man will spend at least 25 years in jail for killing his adoptive mother.

Fred Phillips Jr. pleaded guilty to third-degree murder on Monday.

Police said Phillips strangled 85-year-old Anna Phillips then dumped her body in a wooded area miles from her home.

Two days after the body of the elderly Johnstown woman was found, Fred Phillips was arrested when he crashed his truck in West Virginia. Police said they found $15,000 in cash, a gun and two used cartridges. After extensive questioning, police said he confessed to killing his adoptive mother.

At the time of the murder, Fred Phillips was on parole with a lengthy criminal record in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Another neighbor said Fred Phillips Jr. stabbed her with scissors in 1983 and said she feared for Anna Phillips' safety.

The widow had lived alone on her Menoher Boulevard home until Phillips moved in when he was released from prison.

Stay with WJAC-TV and WJACTV.com for continuing coverage.

Previous Stories:

October 21, 2008: Police: Son Confesses To Killing Elderly Johnstown Woman
October 20, 2008: 85-year-old Johnstown Woman Murdered

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