May 20, 2013
A 19-year-old Beaufort County man today admitted to killing a paraplegic man who lived in Bath.
Arturo Lopez-Perez pleaded guilty of first degree murder for the 2010 murder of Leonard Willson.
Lopez-Perez also pleaded guilty to armed robbery, first degree burglary, first degree larceny and first degree arson.
Deputies say Willson was a mentor to young man, and that the two knew each other for about a year.
Two other men, Martel Weston and Domonic Farrow have already pleaded guilty.
The three will be sentenced at a later date.
District Attorney Seth Edwards says because Lopez-Perez was 16 at the time of the murder, a recent Supreme Court ruling made him ineligible for the death penalty.
