Woman pleads guilty to kidnapping 5-year-old

KANSAS CITY, KS The latest guilty plea by 42-year-old Dena Riley of Independence, Mo., was part of a December agreement under which she pleaded guilty to murder in the death of 41-year-old Marsha Spicer, said Riley's attorney, Melanie Morgan.

Authorities had said Riley took the girl from her southeast Kansas home while Riley and her boyfriend, Richard Davis, were staying with the family in Arcadia, Kan. Investigators said the family didn't know Riley and Davis were wanted.

According to court documents, the girl had injuries consistent with sexual abuse after Riley, 42, and Davis took her to Missouri. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14.

Riley has been sentenced to life without parole for Spicer's murder and to eight additional life sentences and 239 years in prison for 25 other counts, all of which are to be served consecutively.

In return for her December plea, Riley avoided the death penalty in Spicer's killing. Spicer was suffocated during sex at an Independence apartment that Riley shared with Davis. Her sexual torture and suffocation were videotaped.

Riley has also pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sodomy, sex abuse and assault in an attack on Michelle Huff-Ricci, 36, of Kansas City. Riley and Davis still face capital murder charges in neighboring Clay County in that case.

Prosecutors have said Riley and Davis videotaped themselves assaulting the women to fulfill Davis' violent sexual fantasies. Davis has already been convicted and sentenced to death for Spicer's slaying.

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