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A 27-year-old Kentucky man admitted to killing the 20-year-old mother of his child, dismembering her body and disposing of her remains in two different dumpsters, PEOPLE confirms.
Under a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Patrick Ryan Jones of Lexington pleaded guilty but mentally ill Wednesday to murdering his ex-girlfriend, Haley Bourgeois, a clerk in the Fayette Circuit Court in Lexington tells PEOPLE.
He also pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of abuse of a corpse.
His pleawill allow him to participate in mental health programs in prison, theLexington Herald-Leaderreports.
Under the plea agreement, a charge of tampering with evidence was dismissed.
He faces 30 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28, according to court records.
A staff psychiatrist at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in La Grange where Jones had been held conducted a mental health evaluation and foundthat Jones suffered from a mental illnessbut was also competent to stand trial, theLexington Herald-Leaderreports.
Patrick Ryan Jones.Fayette County Sheriff’s Office
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The grisly crime came to light on July 21, 2016, whenpolice responded to early morning callsabout suspicious activity near an apartment building in Lexington, ABC affiliate WKYT reported at the time.
Officers who arrived on the scene found the remains of Bourgeois’ mutilated body in two dumpsters.
Her body was so badly disfigured that the coroner said he had to use a tattoo to identify her, WKYT reports.
Police said a witness told them that Jones had admitted to killing Bourgeois, dismembering her body and disposing of her remains, court records show, WKYT reports.
Jones killed Bourgeois with a wrench during an argument, court records show, WKYT says.
Friends of the young couple expressed their shock at her gruesome death.
source: people.com
