The State - News from Oct. 8, 1985

A motion was granted to elevate a manslaughter charge to double murder with special circumstances in the case of a Lemoore Naval Air Station sailor accused of killing his pregnant wife. Kings County Superior Court Judge Timothy Buckley then accepted an innocent plea from John Steelman, 28. Trial will begin Oct. 25. Steelman pleaded guilty in March to voluntary manslaughter, but the district attorney’s office backed out of the deal, saying its attorney did not have the authority to make the plea bargain that was involved. Steelman is accused of shooting his wife to death in June, 1984, storing her body for several weeks in their garage, dismembering it and dumping parts in the Kings River.