Guilty Plea in Fatal Garage Attack in St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ A St. Paul man has pleaded guilty to fatally beating an intruder with a steel pipe and leaving his body in his garage for weeks.

John Michael Erickson entered the plea to first-degree manslaughter and interfering with a dead body during a hearing in Ramsey County District Court Tuesday.

Reports say Erickson told investigators he heard a noise in his garage last July, went to investigate and discovered the intruder, later identified as Allan ``Buddy'' Bishara Aguilar. Erickson says the two began fighting and he grabbed a steel pipe and hit the man until he stopped moving. He then moved the man's body to the side of his garage and covered him up with bedding.

Erickson says he later realized the person he killed was the man that had been stealing his tools.