Men avoid death penalty in kidnap-slaying of couple

ATLANTA – Two Georgia men have been sentenced to consecutive life terms in prison for kidnapping and killing a pregnant woman and her fiance.

News outlets report 44-year-old Andre Cleveland Gay and 46-year-old Richard “Fathead” Wilson pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping and killing 21-year-old Briana Brooks and 23-year-old Jeronta Brown.

Authorities say the couple was kidnapped for ransom one night in August 2014. The district attorney’s office says they were later found handcuffed together with gunshot wounds to their heads. Brooks was seven-months pregnant and survived long enough to give birth.

The men met in prison and were out on parole at the time of the execution-style slaying. Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty and that the men have killed at least seven people in Fulton County alone.