Paroled killer takes plea bargain in second slaying

A man who had been paroled from prison in 1995 after serving 11 years for the rape and slaying of a cocktail waitress has pleaded guilty to the 1997 slaying of another woman.

Fred Willis, 47, will be sent to prison for another life-prison term, but whether he will again have an opportunity for parole will be in the hands of District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski.

Willis pleaded guilty Monday to the June 1997 strangulation murder of Zabrina Seaborn, a Coast Guard veteran from Long Beach who came to Las Vegas to work as an exotic dancer.

Her partially nude body was found in an alley near Desert Inn Road and Valley View Boulevard with the strap from her own dress wrapped around her neck.

A security camera at Harrah's hotel-casino captured on tape Willis with Seaborn the night before she was murdered. While he admitted being with the woman, he originally denied killing her.

Willis was scheduled to begin his murder trial on Sept. 14 but chose the plea bargain rather than face a jury that would have had the option of giving him the death penalty. In the deal, the death penalty has been dropped and the judge will decide whether the life term is with or without the possibility of parole. In addition, two charges of sexual assault will be dropped.

Willis previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1984 slaying of 25-year-old casino cigarette girl Bonnie Ann Woods.

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