A plea deal will let a Milwaukee man spend no more than seven years in prison for the killing of a 13-year-old girl.
A trial for 51-year-old Jose Ferreira, Jr. had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday in the 1982 death of Carrie Ann Jopek on a second degree murder charge. However, prosecutors announced that Ferreira had agreed to plead guilty to charges of attempted second degree sexual assault and false imprisonment.
Jopek was missing for 17 months, before her body was found buried under a porch. She had been pushed down a flight of stairs, and was then sexually assaulted after her death. Ferreira was not arrested until 2015, after he confessed to his wife and she contacted police.
Carolyn Tousignant, Jopek’s mother, said she approved of the plea deal to avoid further publicity in the case, and to get some closure.
Ferreira will be sentenced March 15th.