GALVESTON, Texas – A man accused of stabbing his 16-year-old girlfriend to death nearly two years ago pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday, according to prosecutors.
Jesse Dobbs, 21, was arrested Nov. 9, 2016, in connection with the death of Kirsten Fritch.
Fritch was reported missing Nov. 8, after her mother and sister were found shot to death in their Baytown home. Fritch’s body was found in a wooded area in Texas City on Nov. 10. She had been stabbed more than 50 times, investigators said.
“This is at least a step in the direction for getting them (Fritch's family) some closure,” Lt. Steve Dorris said.
According to investigators, Dobbs confessed to killing Fritch during an interview with detectives, saying, “Kirsten is dead. I killed her. Not the real Kirsten, but the fake Kirsten.”
According to Galveston County prosecutors, Dobbs entered a guilty plea in the case. The penalty phase of the case is scheduled to begin Monday.
Dobbs has never been charged in the deaths of Fritch’s mother and sister, but police did say he was a suspect.
Dobbs’ attorney plans to make a ‘sudden passion’ claim for her client in the sentencing at Sept. 24.
"I can tell you that we will be presenting a mitigating defense in this case as to Mr. Dobbs' punishment. It is our belief that this is a sudden passion homicide and after hearing all of the evidence in this case, we hope the jury will agree." defense lawyer Jyll Rekoff said.
Dorris doesn’t agree with the defense claim that it was a crime of sudden passion.
"Obviously, we are going to argue something totally different than that. We don’t believe that it was a crime of passion, especially if you look at all of the evidence. It just doesn’t fit that to us," Dorris said.