An ex-convict who admitted executing two College Park women in 2009 shortly after being released from state prison will escape the death penalty, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Fulton County prosecutors withdrew plans to seek the death penalty against Christopher Lorenzo Varner after he agreed to plead guilty to two counts of murder and other felony charges. Varner was sentenced to two life sentences.
He admitted killing roommates Lanaetria Butler, 28, and Karida Winkler, 34, in their Godby Road apartment on July 19, 2009 after after robbing them. The women were good friends who worked at a local Waffle House.
Prosecutors said Varner went to the women under the pretense of buying drugs but pulled a gun on them and demanded drugs and money. Though they complied, he fatally shot both women in the head. One woman was found in the kitchen of the apartment, and the other in the dining room.
Before killing the women, Varner forced them to disrobe, prosecutors said. Winkler and Butler were mothers. Their children, however, lived with other family members.
Varner was captured three days later. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, armed robbery and gun charges.
In March, a Fulton County jury found another defendant in the case not guilty. Anthony Wilder faced a life-without-parole sentence of murder, armed robbery and burglary charges in connection with the killings.
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