BREVARD COUNTY, Fla.,None — There was a surprise plea deal Monday in the murder of a woman whose body was found buried in Cocoa in July. One of the killers said Darice Knowles was buried alive; the murder was actually linked to a second murder.
Knowles knew too much and, when the killers mistakenly thought she had gone to police, they tied her up with duct tape, poured cement on her and buried her alive.
Within hours of being charged with the murder of 22-year-old Darice Knowles, 31-year-old Christopher Pratt not only pleaded guilty to killing her, he recounted in detail how he buried her alive.
"We poured the concrete mix on top of her and started putting the dirt on top of her," Pratt said in court.
"Who did this?" Pratt was asked.
"Me," he replied.
The beauty pageant contestant moved from the Bahamas to Cocoa to stay with Pratt before enrolling in school. Pratt said he told Knowles that he and Vahltiece Kirkman had just killed a man named Willie Parker while trying to rob him.
Pratt said he saw Knowles talking to a police officer and told Kirkman. Pratt said Kirkman later ordered Pratt at gunpoint to tie the woman up with duct tape, dig a hole and bury her in concrete and dirt.
"She was trying, trying her best to try to use her feet to try to get out of the hole, but she was on her back, so she really couldn't get out, she couldn't do nothing, really," Pratt said.
Facing trial four years later, Pratt agreed to take investigators to her burial spot as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors said, otherwise, they may have never found her body.
"There was a point where we're damned if we do, damned if we don't," a prosecutor said.
Pratt will serve 20 years for two murders. In exchange, he must testify against Kirkman in both murder cases or else the plea deal could be revoked and Pratt could face the death penalty.
Knowles never told police about the first murder. Prosecutors have not charged Kirkman with Knowles murder yet, because they are waiting for DNA tests to come back. He could face the death penalty.
WFTV
