45-year-old pleads guilty in dead girl’s abduction A Cumberland man pleaded guilty to abducting a 6-year-old girl and leaving her for dead.
Forty-five-year old Stephen Westfall pleaded guilty to kidnapping and second-degree murder in Allegany County Circuit Court. Prosecutors said they will seek a 50-year prison term, 10 years short of the maximum for the charges. Police said Westfall snatched the child near her Cumberland home and drove her to a rural area where he allegedly choked her, beat her in the head with a rock and left her in a dry creek bed. The incident touched off a 12-day manhunt that ended when Westfall’s girlfriend told police that he could be found in church in Grantsville, Md.
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