East Texas Man Pleads Guilty in Woman’s Strangulation

LUFKIN (AP) � An East Texas man has pleaded guilty to strangling a woman with an electrical cord and then dumping her body near the banks of a river last year. The Lufkin News reports that Justin Welch, 23, of Lufkin pleaded guilty to murder Monday in the April death of Elisha Henson, 30, of Pollok. A judge then sentenced Welch to 50 years in prison. His murder indictment says Welch killed Henson in a fit of rage because he was afraid she might have given him HIV. His attorney, Al Charanza Jr., said the plea deal was in Welch’s best interest. Charanza says his client “wanted the truth to come out.” A Lufkin woman accused of driving Welch to dump Henson’s body is awaiting trial on a murder charge.