An Arkansas farmer accused of murdering and raping a nurse last year before burying her in a field has pleaded guilty to capital murder and rape. The guilty plea by Quake Lewellyn, 29, waived a jury trial, and a judge sentenced him to life behind bars. Lewellyn confessed to investigators late last year that he had abducted 25-year-old Sydney Sutherland while she was out jogging. The then-married stepfather of three is said to have offered a chilling confession about how he had happened upon Sutherland on a gravel road, struck her with his vehicle, and then taken her body to a rice field where he raped and buried her. Afterwards, according to an evaluation by a state psychologist, he said he went home, had dinner, and “just tried to forget about it.” Lewellyn had initially pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, capital murder, abuse of a corpse and rape late last year, but prosecutors later warned that if he were convicted, he would face the death penalty. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty as part of the plea deal.
