The man who killed a fellow teenager and left his body at a playground in South Cobb will serve 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to the crime.
The victim, Naseer Benefield, 17, was found stabbed to death outside Sierra Forest Apartments on Mableton Parkway, where he lived with his grandfather, in November, 2017.
Authorities used phone records to arrest Dawson Lee Wagner, now 19, of Woodstock, according to a statement from the district attorney’s office.
“This was a senseless crime of overwhelming violence perpetrated by an individual who displayed an utter lack of remorse for the crimes he committed,” prosecutor Jennifer Stevenson was quoted saying in the statement. “We hope that this conviction brings some measure of closure to the family of Naseer Benefield, which has been devastated by this tragic loss.”
Wagner pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, possession of a knife during commission of a felony, concealing a death and making a false statement.
Wagner has been in custody since December 2017, and will get credit for the time he has already served toward his 40-year sentence.
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