Ten days after his roommate went missing, Joseph Patrick Larkin told Allegheny County homicide detectives that Chad Mulvin had been shot in the heart in a struggle over a rifle. Mr. Larkin also admitted he wrapped the 29-year-old's body in a tarp and buried him in his mother's yard in Ohio Township.

After hearing testimony yesterday on a defense motion to suppress Mr. Larkin's statement, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski ruled that the verbal confession was admissible. Mr. Larkin refused to complete a written or taped confession, saying that he wanted an attorney present.

In the confession, Mr. Larkin, now 33, told detectives Mr. Mulvin returned angry July 2, 2004, to their Pennsbury Village townhouse after Mr. Larkin stiffed him with the bill and left him stranded at a farewell party at Jabby Joe's restaurant. After they argued, Mr. Mulvin reached for his roommate's Ruger semi-automatic rifle, and, at some point after Mr. Larkin passed out, the struggle resumed. Mr. Larkin said Mr. Mulvin died from a single gunshot to the heart.

Allegheny County Homicide Detective William Palmer testified yesterday that Mr. Larkin said he bought a tarp and some duct tape from a Home Depot outlet and wrapped the body the day after the shooting. He then drove the body to his mother's home and left it under a truck bed. On July 7, after he had filed a missing person's report with Carnegie Police, he bought 10, 80-pound bags of concrete powder. He placed the body in a depression on his mother's yard and dumped the concrete over it.

In a mixup by the county coroner's office July 13, 2004, a body bag was released to McCabe Funeral Home of Derry, which was to handle cremation of Mr. Mulvin's remains and forward them to the McGorray Bros. Co. funeral home in Lakewood, Ohio, where the victim's mother lived. But nine months later, officials at the coroner's office found Mr. Mulvin's body in a basement freezer used for decomposed remains.

Several of Mr. Mulvin's co-workers from Red Lobster in Robinson also testified at yesterday's trial, confirming that their friend had been left at the party with the $60 bill for his and Mr. Larkin's drinks. Several testified that he appeared upset. One co-worker dropped him off at home. Two others made inquiries to Mr. Larkin when he did not show up at work the next day and urged Mr. Larkin to file a missing person's report.

The homicide trial was scheduled to continue today.