Man Admits Beheading Prostitute

[bloodrayne]

Plea Deal Struck In Beheading Case

Boston, Massachusetts -- A Lynn man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing and decapitating one man and was expected to also plead guilty in the beheading of a prostitute.

Eugene McCollom, 40, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to the reduced charge of manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison.

Prosecutors say McCollom killed John "Jackie" Leyden in March 2001 in the victim's apartment in the city's East Boston section. He took the head to Florida and buried it in a park.

Leyden's brother, William, found the headless body two weeks later under a bed. Autopsies showed that Leyden had been stabbed several times and repeatedly beaten over the head with a metal pipe before he was decapitated, prosecutors said.

William Leyden was initially charged with the murder after investigators matched tissue samples found in his car to his brother's DNA. But prosecutors dropped the charge after McCollom emerged as a suspect.

In a February 2004 court filing, prosecutors revealed that McCollom had told investigators where to find Leyden's head, which was found buried in a park in Fort Lauderdale.

David Procopio, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, said prosecutors had no choice but to cut a plea deal.

"There was not an abundance of evidence other than the statements made by Eugene McCollom," he said.

McCollom and Leyden knew each other from Alcoholics Anonymous, Procopio said. He added that the motive for the killing was unknown.

McCollom is currently in jail in Essex County, charged with murder for the November 2000 beheading of a prostitute who has never been publicly identified. The woman's headless body was dumped on the grounds of a home for disabled veterans in Chelsea.

Last year, police found a head and hands believed to be hers buried in a container on a beach in Nahant.

Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, said McCollom was scheduled for a change of plea hearing on Feb. 24 in Salem Superior Court.

O'Connell declined to say what charge McCollom would plead to, but McCollom has previously said he would plead guilty to reduced charges in that case, according to court filings.

Lawrence McGuire, McCollom's defense attorney, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.