EASTON, Pa. — A 77-year-old man entered a guilty plea to third-degree murder in the shooting death of a 67-year-old man in his Lehigh Township home.
William Arthur Strunk, of Stroudsburg, entered the plea Friday before Judge Paula A. Roscioli, Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta said in a release Monday.
According to the release, Strunk admitted that on the morning of June 27, 2022, he was inside Michael Powers' home and fired the fatal shots that killed Powers.
Strunk faces up to 40 years in state prison when he’s sentenced on Jan. 14, 2025.
Plea came as trial was set to begin
The investigation into Powers' killing dates to Baratta’s predecessor, Terry Houck.
Lehigh Township police were called about 6 p.m. June 29, 2022, to the 4500 block of Lower Three Mile Lane, where they found Powers dead from multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and mouth, Houck said in a release on March 27, 2023.
Police identified Strunk as a suspect and searched his home in Stroudsburg, where they found and seized ammunition and a .38-caliber handgun — the same caliber used to kill Powers, Houck said.
Strunk later told investigators in Monroe County he shot Powers four times with that gun, the district attorney’s office said.
The latter charges were withdrawn during Friday’s proceedings, according to court records.
His guilty plea to third-degree murder came as his trial was scheduled to start Monday.
