A Germantown, Maryland, man pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder in the gruesome 2019 death of a woman he killed just a day after meeting her.
Lawrence Sakkestad, 35, pleaded guilty to killing Jennifer Sparks, 39, in his home on Dunstable Circle on Sept. 9, 2019.
The police report at the time said friends found Sparks on Sakkestad’s bathroom floor. Officers said Sakkestad was naked and covered in blood when they got there, and that he promptly told police that he killed Sparks with a pipe wrench and also used a pocket knife to slit her throat.
Sakkestad met Sparks the previous day, brought her to the residence, used drugs with her and engaged in sex, investigators said. He told police he had heard voices that told him to kill her.
The office of Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said that Sakkestad agreed to a plea deal in which he will serve a life prison term and waive any rights to appeal or to a reduction in sentence.
Sakkestad will be sentenced Aug. 27 in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
