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ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl accused of plotting with her soldier boyfriend to kill her mother pleaded guilty Thursday in a deal with prosecutors.
Jamie Silvonek will be sentenced to 35 years to life in prison, the Lehigh County District Attorney's office said.
As part of the deal, Silvonek pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. She will be eligible for parole after serving 35 years.
Silvonek, who was charged as an adult, was accused of conspiring with 21-year-old Army Spc. Caleb Barnes via text to kill her mother in the driveway of her home near Allentown last March, after the three returned from a concert. Barnes stabbed the 54-year-old Cheryl Silvonek then he and the teenager ate at a restaurant and went shopping for gloves, bleach and other cleaning supplies, authorities said.
Barnes's trial is set for April 11. He is charged with homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy.
Authorities said Barnes and Jamie Silvonek met in October 2014, when she was 13, but she told him she was 17.
Cheryl Silvonek found out about their relationship in early March 2015 and ordered them to end it, according to court documents. A day later, the teenager told Barnes she wanted her parents dead, the documents said.
On March 14, Cheryl Silvonek learned that Barnes, who was from Fort Meade in Maryland but was off duty at the time, intended to take her daughter to a concert in Scranton.
"He is not coming to this house," Cheryl Silvonek texted to her daughter, who had taken the SAT college entrance exam that morning, according to a police affidavit.
The teenager then texted Barnes, "She threatened to throw me out of the house. I want her gone," the affidavit said. Later, she wrote to him, "Just do it," authorities said.
Cheryl Silvonek agreed to drive her daughter and Barnes to the show. Prosecutors said it was her "last ditch effort" to get them to end the relationship. On their way, the teenager and her boyfriend continued texting each other.
"I love you. We can do this. We'll just drive her car then, right?" Jamie Silvonek wrote, the affidavit said.
Barnes replied in a text, "No. That leaves us as the suspects."
Police found Cheryl Silvonek's body in a shallow grave a few miles from the Silvonek home. The victim's blood-soaked car was found nearby.
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