A western New York librarian has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a World War I veteran more than three decades ago.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn says 51-year-old Saundra Adams, of Buffalo, entered the plea Wednesday in state Supreme Court, just a day into jury selection for her murder trial.
Adams admitted that she and an accomplice broke into a Buffalo home in June 1983 and caused the death of 92-year-old Edmund Schreiber.
The original indictment accused the two of tying up Schreiber and strangling the decorated war veteran with his own neckties.
Adams’ plea comes almost a year to the day that she was arrested and charged.
Saundra Adams, 51, of Buffalo, New York, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Edmund Schreiber, a World War I veteran, more than three decades ago
She faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when she’s sentenced in November.
Even though the crime was committed 34 years ago, there is no statute of limitations on Class A felonies in the State of New York, including murder, manslaughter, rape, sexual abuse, and kidnapping.
Authorities arrested Adams last year after her DNA was found on the neckties used to strangle the victim, according to The Buffalo News.
When police uncovered the new evidence tying Adams to the crime, it asked prosecutors to re-open the case.
Adams, who was 17 years old at the time she committed the crime, enrolled at Bryant & Stratton College and worked in its library before she was charged a year ago, according to the News.
At the time of his death, Schreiber was a 92-year-old veteran of World War I who was awarded the Purple Heart for his actions during service.
On the day he was killed, Schreiber did not show up for lunch at a nearby senior citizens’ center as he normally did.
Concerned friends went to Schreiber’s home, where they discovered his body on his bed covered with blankets and pillows.
Schreiber’s hands were tied up and eight neckties which were used to strangle him were found around his neck.
Authorities arrested Adams last year after her DNA was found on the neckties used to strangle the victim
At Adams’s arraignment last September, Assistant District Attorney Thomas M. Finnerty said that the ransacked house indicated that the initial intent was to burglarize Schreiber’s home.
Finnerty said that fingerprints lifted from Schreiber’s bedroom dresser matches those of Adams.
‘The defendant has falsely denied being in the bedroom and being inside the home on multiple occasions,’ Finnerty said.
‘She has never offered an explanation for how her DNA wound up on his ties.’
Adams’s father, Ernest Adams, told The Buffalo News that his daughter used to run errands for Schreiber, who was a neighbor.
‘They got her fingerprints because they’re all over the house,’ Ernest Adams said last year.
‘My daughter cleaned the house for him. She’d go get groceries for him. She ran errands for him.’