DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Des Moines man has agreed to plead guilty in a 2019 homicide as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Court documents said Yancy Freland, 47, plans to plead guilty to attempted murder, manslaughter and two other charges in the grisly death of 23-year-old Marshal Aaron Terrell Johnson in an industrial area just south of downtown Des Moines. He was originally charged, along with Bryan Norris, 28, with first-degree murder in the case.
Authorities have said Johnson was shot and had his neck cut sometime after July 26, 2019. Johnson’s body was first wrapped in plastic and buried before it was dug up, partially burned and then reburied at the former Dico industrial site near 16th Street Southwest and Martin Luther King Junior Parkway.
Freland told prosecutors that he, Norris and a third man who hasn’t been charged decided to kill Johnson because of “the issues he was causing in the homeless camp” where all three men lived.
Freland said Norris shot Johnson with a handgun and Freland fired a shotgun toward Johnson although he believes his shot missed. Then Freland said Norris slashed Johnson’s throat and the three men tried to conceal the body.
Freland agreed to testify against Norris as part of the deal. Norris is set to stand trial beginning on May 24.
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