Bollinger County teen pleads guilty to murdering guardian

Gathered in a circle outside the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse, the family of a murdered Patton, Mo., woman said Wednesday they were relieved the case was over after hearing the accused killer plead guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

With his plea, 18-year-old John W. Wilfong admitted before Circuit Court Judge Joe Satterfield to shooting Pamela Ackman on Dec. 30, 2008, with a .22-caliber rifle.

"I'm just glad it's come to an end and this can all be put to rest," said Joe Wilfong, a relative of Ackman's.

At the time of the murder, John Wilfong was living with Ackman and her husband, Mickey, who were foster parents to him and his brother. She was John Wilfong's cousin.

Mickey Ackman found his wife dead in the kitchen of their home off Highway 51, south of Highway 72.

"The state's evidence would be that the young men discussed the idea of killing this woman earlier that day," Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Gray said during the hearing when asked to outline the state's case. "Wilfong was waiting for her in a place she could not see him."

John Wilfong shot Ackman once in the back of the head, Gray said, but when he saw her move he fired another shot in the back of her head. After the shooting, John Wilfong and his brother fled the scene to go to a relative's home near Marble Hill, Mo.

When police found the boys, they also found a .22-caliber rifle in the vehicle the brothers used to leave the scene. The gun belonged in the Ackmans' gun cabinet, police later determined.

"He admitted his involvement to police later," Gray said.

Satterfield ordered a sentencing assessment report be completed before Wilfong's sentencing, which is set for 3 p.m. June 28 at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse. Per a plea agreement, Wilfong is facing a sentence of 30 years in prison on each charge, to be served consecutively.

Amy Metzinger, one of John Wilfong's attorneys, told the judge she spoke with the victim's family at length and gave careful consideration to what they wanted to see happen when she reviewed the plea agreement.

Wilfong would be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of the second-degree murder sentence and after three years of serving the sentence for the armed criminal action charge.

"In a murder case, though, when you have a deceased victim, they usually serve much longer than that," Gray said after the hearing. "It's up to the parole board."

Outside the courthouse after the hearing, Joe Wilfong said he hopes the teenager is never paroled.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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