Conn. woman pleads no contest to 1993 killing

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A woman charged two years ago with killing her mother in Norwich in 1993 has pleaded no contest to a reduced manslaughter charge and is expected to be released from prison in February.

Forty-one-year-old Irene Reynolds of Baltic accepted a plea bargain in New London Superior Court on Monday just before her trial was to begin. The deal calls for a prison term of up to 30 months, but she already has been detained longer than that and is expected to be freed when she is sentenced Feb. 13.

Police said 60-year-old Bertha Reynolds was struck with a lamp, strangled and thrown down the basement stairs of her Norwich home in July 1993. The case went unsolved for years until new efforts were made by a police cold case squad.