Man pleads guilty to killing wife, gets 20 years in prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man who killed his wife then tried to hide her body in their south Charlotte home for several weeks pleaded guilty to her murder Thursday and will spend at least 20 years in prison.

Brandon Blakeney did not say anything as he entered the plea to second-degree murder in a Mecklenburg County courtroom, but the prosecutor spelled out details of a murder that was a bizarre as it was brutal.

The prosecutor said police found Catherine Blakeney’s body under a blanket in their home.

Friends hadn't seen or heard from her for almost a month and prosecutors said she may have been dead for three weeks before police found her body. It was so decomposed the medical examiner couldn't say how she died.

"They couldn't really determine how long it had been so there were definitely trial issues as to cause of death and everything," said Mark Foster, who was Brandon Blakeney's attorney and who hammered out the plea deal with prosecutors.

Catherine Blakeney's friends and family walked away from the hearing wondering what it will take to stop the kind of violence that tears a family apart.

"Get out. Leave, and soon as possible because this is the end result," said Yvette Russell, who had worked with Catherine Blakeney for 13 years.

Michael Edwards was an ex-boyfriend who kept in touch with Catherine Blakeney and who doesn't understand why she wouldn't leave her husband.

"If a man's going to hit you, he's capable of doing a lot of other things to you.  I think the message here is if someone's beating on you, they don't love you," Edwards said.

WSOC