Wenatchee man admits to killing teen

WENATCHEE – A Wenatchee man accused of killing a beauty school classmate has been sentenced to a little more than 14 years in prison under a plea deal.

Thirty-one-year-old Christopher Scott Wilson pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree manslaughter for the February 2010 death of Mackenzie Cowell. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, as well as second-degree assault on another woman.

Wilson had been charged with first-degree murder, and jury selection was under way in his trial.

Cowell was a 17-year-old high school senior who told her beauty school classmates she would be gone for 15 minutes just before she walked to her car and drove off. Police found her body four days later. She had been struck in the head, strangled and stabbed to death.