Inmate pleads guilty in Des Moines murder from 1980

A 54-year-old felon charged in August with a 28-year-old cold case murder pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder.

James Maynard Blair was in prison on an unrelated charge when King County prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder. Blair pleaded to a lesser crime.

Kirk Parker, 58, was found strangled to death at his Des Moines trailer home Feb. 27, 1980. Shortly after the slaying, Des Moines police were first looking for "two robed cultists" in connection with the slaying, according to the early police investigation. Later investigation showed there were no cultists linked to the case.

Investigators were unable to solve the slaying until DNA tests linked Blair to the case in 2006.

During an interview at the Monroe Correctional Complex earlier this year, Blair told police that Parker had picked him up while he was hitchhiking. He said it was rainy and Parker, a bookkeeper at a Seattle construction company, offered to take him home and let him use his dryer, according to court charging papers.

Once inside the house, Blair attacked Parker, then stole his truck, court papers said.

Blair has prior convictions for theft, burglary, malicious mischief, escape, attempting to elude, arson, theft and assault, according to prosecutors.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com