Neighbour admits grisly rape and murder of girl, nine, whose body he dumped in the trash
- Girl's badly-beaten body was found dumped in a bin
- Fiancée of suspect said she heard screams... but thought it was just a neighbour arguing with their child
- Suspect 'sat down to dinner with fiancée just minutes after the murder
- Detectives discovered blood-soaked clothes in suspect's bedroom
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A Pennsylvania man who brutally raped and murdered a young neighbour in the basement of their apartment complex will spend the rest of his life behind bars under a plea deal approved today.
Guilty: James Lee Troutman, 24, admitted he brutally raped and murdered 9-year-old Skyler Kauffman
The agreement enables James Lee Troutman to avoid the death penalty for the strangling and sexual assault on nine-year-old Skyler Kauffman at the apartment complex in Souderton, where a previous encounter between them prompted a call to the police.
Facing a judge today, Troutman pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and related charges.
He admitted he raped Kauffman, then choked her and slammed her head against the basement floor repeatedly before dumping her body in a trash bin on May 9.
That was a few weeks after the little girl’s mother called police on April 18 to complain about Troutman after her daughter and a friend said Troutman had locked them in his apartment, and only let them go when they started screaming.
But police said they could not charge him due to lack of evidence.
Defense attorney Craig Penglase said that his client had wanted to plead guilty all along, but he was trying to avoid the death penalty.
'I applaud the DA's office for their decision to make that possible,' Penglase told the Bucks County Courier Times.
He added: 'Without their proper use of discretion to take death off the table, this plea wouldn't have happened and all parties would have had to go through a trial.'
Investigators became suspicious of Troutman, now 25, after noticing blood on his sneakers, and he eventually confessed, telling authorities: 'It was like white-out' and he 'snapped'.
Victim: Skyler Kauffman pictured at Christmas, left, and at her eighth birthday party, right
Innocent: Skyler Kauffman, nine, was found strangled in a bin behind the apartment complex where she lived in Philadelphia
According to the affidavit he said: 'I got rid of her. Once I took her down [there], I knew she could get me in trouble.'
He allegedly wrapped her body in a blanket, carried her outside and threw her into a nearby dumpster, leaving a trail of blood behind.
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ShareThen he went back home, took a shower - and sat down to eat with his fiancée.
A huge search was launched for Skyler, described as an outgoing and friendly little girl, after she failed to come home for dinner.
Her mother called police at about 7pm, and they joined her family as they combed Souderton Garden Apartments, in a leafy suburb of Philadelphia.
'I was living with a monster': Heather Clemens claimed she had no idea that her boyfriend was capable of murder
Soon after they arrived, a neighbour called and said they had found a pool of blood in one of the building's communal basements.
According to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, one of the detectives ran into Troutman and spotted what looked like blood on his right tennis shoe, which he claimed was from a nosebleed.
An autopsy showed that Skyler died of asphyxiation, blunt-force trauma and sexually-related lacerations.
Last year, Troutman's fiancée, Heather Clemens, made the shocking claim that she overheard the attack on young Skyler and wrote it off as a 'parent arguing with a child'.
Miss Clemens was in the apartment directly overhead and said she heard a female voice 'wailing', along with screams, crashing sounds and someone crying, 'No!' according to a police complaint.
'I thought maybe it might have been a parent arguing with a child, and the child was going 'Nooooo,' like, 'Why are you taking my toy?'' Miss Clemens told KYW-TV.
'I thought any number of things at that point except what this turned out to be.'
She told the station that she felt disbelief and shock when her groom-to-be was arrested.
Accused: James Troutman covers his face as he is led out of his apartment block in front of a jeering crowd following his arrest last year
Party girl: Friends and family paid tribute to Skyler, who they said was 'loved by everybody'
Inconsolable grief: Skyler's mother, Heather Gebhard, wept at a vigil last year as she described her daughter
'I was horrified that they actually said that he was the one who did it,' she said. 'Never in a million years did I think he was capable of doing this.'
Around 50 neighbours gathered to yell and jeer as Troutman, who wore a bullet-proof vest,was escorted in and out of his arraignment at a courtroom across the road.
He hid his face with his hands as the crowd shouted obscenities at him. One man yelled: 'Burn in hell.'
Horrific end: Detectives investigate the area around the bin where Skyler's badly-beaten body was found
Outraged community: A huge crowd yelled obscenities at Troutman as he was led to the courthouse for his arraignment last year
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