Man Pleads Guilty To Murder, Landlady Strangled

A 51-year-old Nampa man has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the strangling death of his landlady in September.

Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor says in exchange for the guilty plea Tuesday, the county would not seek the death penalty against Theodore Kestner.

He was charged with killing 53-year-old Jennifer Kirkpatrick in Caldwell. Her body was found Sept. 1. Kestner fled to Oregon and was arrested there on Sept. 6.

Kestner told investigators he killed Kirkpatrick by tightening zip ties around her neck. Court records say the registered sex offender told police he felt betrayed by Kirkpatrick and thought she was trying to send him back to prison.

The county will recommend a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when Kestner is sentenced on Feb. 21.

Associated Press