JACKSONVILLE, NC (AP) – A 20-year-old woman has been sentenced to up to 32 years in prison in the killing of a former sheriff’s deputy she had dated.
WITN-TV reports that Caitlin Ridgeway entered an Alford plea in court Friday on second-degree murder and robbery charges in the 2017 death of former Onslow County deputy William Clifton. Under an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction, but doesn’t admit guilt.
Ridgeway was sentenced to serve between 24 and 32 years in prison.
A second suspect, William Welch Jr., pleaded guilty to the same charges in March. He is awaiting sentencing.
The 48-year-old Clifton was found dead in a park by a jogger. He had been shot multiple times.
