Suspect in Slaying of SD Man Pleads Guilty

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — One of two men accused of conspiring to murder a South Dakota man in North Dakota has changed his plea to guilty.

Twenty-six-year-old Theo Crowe said in court Monday in Bismarck that he went along with a plan by 20-year-old Joshua Clark to kill someone. Clark maintained his not guilty plea.

The two are accused in the death of 18-year-old John Swain, who was reported missing in mid-May after moving to Bismarck from Sioux Falls, S.D., in search of work. Police believe Clark and Crowe lured Swain into a Bismarck home, hit him with a hammer and cut off his legs.

Authorities say Swain's body was found in June at the home of Crowe's grandmother in Poplar, Mont.

Crowe will be sentenced later, and Clark will be scheduled for trial.