By C1 Staff
LANCASTER — A man with the word ‘Satan’ tattooed on his face pleaded guilty to stabbing an acquaintance 39 times and was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.
The Herald Online reports that David Adam Pate admitted to luring the victim, Rickey James, into some woods with wine because “I just wanted to cut his dadgum head off.” Children found James’ decomposing body in the woods a month later.
He used a butcher knife to complete the crime, but police found at least 20 knives, both store-bought and homemade, and more than 20 masks in Pate’s home after he was arrested. He told police he used the butcher knife “just like the one Michael Myers used in [the movie] ‘Halloween.’”
Pate already had a lengthy prison sheet; he served time for burglary and other crimes starting at age 17.
In a video confession, Pate said he tied James with a rope from neck to ankles so he could drag his body to a nearby creek, but he was too drunk and tired to do so.
DNA linked Pate to the crime and his family told police that he had been covered in blood and had even attempted to burn his clothes.
When sentencing Pate to the maximum of life in prison without parole, Circuit Court Judge Dan Hall described the murder as “senseless, remorseless and emotionless.”