PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A man pleaded guilty on Friday to first-degree manslaughter in a 1995 Portland homicide case, police say.
Adrian C. Stafford, 47, also pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, according to Portland Police Bureau. He hasn’t been sentenced as of Tuesday but is expected to get 19 years in prison, authorities say.
Stafford and two other men (Danny Conner, 51, and Vinson L. White, 53,) have pleaded guilty to killing Darrin Ezell in 1995. A fourth suspect, Selwyn T. Safford (Adrian Stafford’s brother) is still awaiting trial.
In April 2014, Portland Police Bureau Cold Case Homicide detectives said they arrested Conner in connection with the murder of Ezell and booked him into the Multnomah County Detention Center. White and Stafford were arrested later.
According to records obtained by KOIN 6 News, Ezell’s girlfriend had just left for work on December 20, 1995, in Southeast Portland, leaving her two children in her home. Three masked men entered the apartment, confronted Ezell and then shot him. The three suspects fled the scene. Investigators, at the time of the homicide, said Ezell may have been involved in gambling and drug dealing. Detectives have said the motive for the homicide was robbery. Court documents show that the men committed the murder in the course of a kidnapping and burglary.