SALISBURY, N.C. -- A Salisbury man took a plea deal on Friday to avoid the death penalty for the murder of his former girlfriend in 2012.
Gary Cureton confessed to beating Joan Lark with a baseball bat in her own home.
Lark's family attended the hearing yesterday when the district attorney revealed evidence found at her home, which included threating phone messages from Cureton .
Police said it was her grandchildren that discovered their grandmother dead in her bedroom in January of 2012.
Cureton pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, burglary and robbery with a dangerous weapon.
He apologized to the family in the courtroom.
Lark’s family said it has been hard, but they have forgiven Cureton.
During the hearing the DA said police found Cureton the day after the murder with boots and a jacket with bloodstains on it that had belonged to Lark.