JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Tennessee woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting her boyfriend in a car earlier this year after they were stopped for speeding on Interstate 95.
Melissa Ferris, 28, was charged with the first-degree murder of companion Jeffrey Opp on May 9. Police believe the pair killed a Memphis nightclub dancer, and were fleeing police.
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Ferris drove away from a Florida Highway Patrol traffic stop on I-10, but the two were stopped again on I-95 near the Emerson Street exit. While surrounded by troopers and Jacksonville police, Ferris shot Opp in the head with a handgun.
Ferris told investigators that the pair had a murder-suicide pact in the event they were caught, but Ferris was apprehended before she could shoot herself.
After she was arrested, Ferris provided a map of an area of northern Mississippi where she said 22-year-old Corrie Duckett's body was dumped. Memphis police found the woman's remains almost one month later.
Under the plea agreement, Ferris will be sentenced to life in prison for killing Opp, but she will also plead guilty to a murder charge in Memphis.
"She is facing an indictment in Tennessee," Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Ronda said after Wednesday's hearing. "The state has agreed that she can be returned back to Tennessee and do whatever needs to happen in Tennessee in terms of pleading in the Tennessee case, then be brought back here, sentenced to life in prison, then returned to Tennesse, where she will serve another life (sentence) there."
In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors in Florida and Tennessee agree not to seek the death sentence in either murder. Ferris' attorney said his client also was assured that she would serve at least part of her prison time in Tennessee, near her family.
Judge Henry Davis will formally sentence Ferris in January.
Previous Stories:
- May 11, 2005: Police: Woman Had Suicide Pact With Boyfriend