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Man pleads guilty but mentally ill in family slayings

Detroit Free Press (MI) - 1/26/2016

Jan. 26--An Eastpointe man accused of strangling his wife and two young children with a USB cable in their home last year is to be sentenced in March after pleading guilty but mentally ill in Macomb County Circuit Court.

Timothy Fradeneck, 38, entered his plea during a hearing Monday -- a plea that was expected after a hearing earlier this month.

He is to be sentenced March 1 by Judge Diane Druzinski. Fradeneck pleaded to multiple counts of first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse in the deaths of his family in April.

A plea spares the families a trial. Fradeneck will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, attorneys have said.

Fradeneck is accused of killing his wife, Christie; daughter, Celeste, 2, and son Timothy, 8. Police previously testified that Fradeneck put a Lego in his son's had after he strangled him.

Prosecutors and police said Fradeneck admitted his role and that he had planned to kill his family for months. They said that he tried to kill himself.

Attorneys on both sides previously indicated that a state forensic evaluation and an independent evaluation revealed that Fradeneck was mentally ill. Fradeneck's attorney, Steve Kaplan, previously said he could not advance an insanity defense because the findings did not support it.

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @challreporter.

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