NC man sentenced to life for 3 women's deaths

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A Union County man received three consecutive life sentences without parole for the deaths of three Charlotte-area women between 1997 and 2006.

District Attorney John Snyder said Friday that Scott Wilson Williams entered an Alford plea, which means he acknowledged the state had enough evidence to convict him and agreed to accept a guilty plea while still maintaining his innocence.

Snyder said Scott Wilson Williams entered the plea to three counts of first-degree murder and other charges that included first-degree rape and kidnappping. He also entered the plea to crimes involving two more women, including attempted first-degree murder and first-degree sex offense.

Snyder said the three life sentences cover all the charges. Prosecutors originally had sought the death penalty.

The women were shot and their mutilated bodies were dumped near rural roads. He killed Sharon House Pressley in 1997, Christina Outz Parker in 2004 and Sharon Tucker Stone in 2006. He also entered Alford pleas to crimes involving two more women, including attempted first-degree murder and first-degree sex offense.

Records show investigators seized assorted whips, chains, handcuffs, knives and handguns from Williams' home.

Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey has said that Williams and three dead women knew each other because they "lived a high-risk lifestyle, and he was a part of that high-risk lifestyle."

Pressley has been charged with prostitution seven months before she died, and both she and Parker both had drug convictions.

Records show that Stone pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanors over five years. Police said Parker and Stone knew each other.