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Man Pleads Guilty In Death Of Billiards Player

ANN ARBOR (WWJ/AP) - A man who authorities say killed a competitive billiards player from the Ann Arbor has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in her asphyxiation death.

Gregory Noack on Wednesday accepted a plea deal that will put him in prison for at least 40 years in the death of Dawn Fital in their Pittsfield Township apartment last June. His plea came just days before a planned trial.

In court, 45-year-old Noack looked back toward Fital's family and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," AnnArbor.com reported. He's due back in court for sentencing on June 7.

Dawn Fital2
Dawn Fital

Noack told police that he snapped after 45-year-old Fital refused to have sex. He said they had reconciled after she had broken up with him in a phone call from a Las Vegas billiards tournament.

According to AnnArbor.com, Noack told investigators he and Fital were in bed when the argument began and he climbed on top of her, wrapped duct tape around her face and mouth as a gag and choked her until she died.

The day after Fital was reported missing, police arrested Noack behind a bank in Merrillville, Ind. Two days after his arrest, he led police to Fital's body, which was found stuffed in a suitcase submerged in a retention pond behind a Toys 'R' Us store in Hobart, Ind., on June 16.

Noack also pleaded guilty to kidnapping with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct, unlawful imprisonment, tampering with evidence, unlawful driving away of a motor vehicle and larceny in a building. As a part of the deal, the charges of open murder and felony murder were dropped.

TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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