Girl, 17, admits she strangled 81-year-old woman

GOSHEN, N.Y. - A 17-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to strangling an 81-year-old woman while burglarizing the victim's upstate New York home before setting it on fire.

Local media report that Jennifer Molyneaux pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder, admitting in Orange County Court that she killed Helen Mills on Aug. 2.

The teen told the judge that she and her then-19-year-old boyfriend, Devin Giordano, were high on heroin and other drugs when they broke into the home and attacked Mills in her bedroom.

Prosecutors say they'll seek the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Giordano is also charged with second-degree murder. His case is pending.

CBS New York reported in August that police said they found the money from the murder scene at the home where Giordano lived with his parents, and that both suspects apparently knew the victim's grandson, who may have told them that Mills kept a lot of cash around.

The idyllic community has been reeling under a sharp uptick in crime fueled by a demand for heroin.

"It used to be we watched this stuff on the news in the city, New York, but not anymore," Betty Slesinski told the station.

Among the flowers and offerings left for Mills last summer was a note from a stranger asking her to watch over the local kids.

"Our children are dying for heroin, now they are killing for it too," the note read.