Ex-con pleads guilty in girlfriend's murder

(Bartlesville-AP) -- A Bartlesville man has pleaded guilty to the murder last year of his girlfriend.

Chester Stark pleaded guilty Monday to the February 1999 murder of 40-year-old Christi Davis.

Stark is scheduled to be sentenced next month on charges of first-degree murder and arson.

Bartlesville police found Davis' badly beaten and burned body in a small room in her downtown home. An investigation determined that the fire -- which started in the corner of a sofa -- was intentionally set.

Washington County prosecutors reached an agreement with Stark earlier this year in which Stark would plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to seek the death penalty.