Man pleads guilty to killing Kansas woman, 4-year-old girl

NEWTON, Kan. – A homeless man who killed a Kansas woman and her 4-year-old daughter pleaded guilty to capital murder but will not face the death penalty.

Twenty-year-old Keith Hawkins will serve life in prison without parole after entering the plea Friday. He admitted killing 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and her daughter, Zaylynn Paz, in August at their duplex in Newton, Kansas.

Investigators have said Runyon apparently was strangled and her daughter was stabbed.

Hawkins, who was homeless, was visiting Runyon. He was arrested in Texas in August.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder said the victims’ families agreed to the plea deal.

The Wichita Eagle reports Hawkins was a sex offender but his prior conviction was not placed on the public offender registry.

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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com