Montana man pleads guilty in Wash. cold case

SEATTLE, Wash. — A 60-year-old man extradited from Montana to face charges in the 1996 death of a Kirkland, Wash., woman has pleaded guilty in Seattle to first-degree manslaughter.

Clifford E. Reed entered his plea Friday in King County Superior Court. He was originally charged with second-degree murder for the slaying of 28-year-old Sandi Johnson. Her skeletal remains were found near Highway 410 in Pierce County in 2004, eight years after she disappeared.

In court papers, prosecutors said Reed was obsessed with Johnson, his co-worker at Bowen Scarff Ford in the Seattle suburb of Kent. An investigator wrote that the woman did not return his affection and denied any romantic relationship.

Reed was arrested in 2012 at his Victor, Mont., home and extradited to Washington last year. Sentencing is set for April 11.