Son Admits to Killing : Crime: Ramona man pleads guilty to first-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of his mother.

A Ramona man who bludgeoned his mother to death and then carried her body by car to Mississippi pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder.

Superior Court Judge Charles R. Hayes said Lorne Schultz, 47, will serve 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 30 for killing his mother, Mayme Flagg Schultz, with a crowbar in the bedroom of her Ramona home.

As part of a plea bargain, prosecutors agreed to drop allegations that the murder was committed during a robbery and was to silence a witness. If a jury had found either allegation to be true, Schultz would have been sentenced to life.

The allegation of murdering a witness stemmed from a case in which Schultz had been convicted of stealing from his mother. He was sentenced to probation.

Prosecutors said there was evidence that he had continued to steal from his mother and that Mayme Schultz was preparing to report it to the authorities. Schultz’s probation could have been revoked if she made the complaint, prosecutors said.

Schultz was arrested by Mississippi state troopers Jan. 29, two weeks after his mother’s body was found along a rural road near Oxford, Miss.

Schultz, who was convicted of robbery in 1967, will serve a minimum of 16 years prior to being eligible for probation.