A Cambria County man pleaded guilty today to killing his mother.

Frederick Phillips, 52, had been scheduled for trial next month on charges of homicide and aggravated assault for the strangulation death of his mother, Anna Phillips, 85. Police said he dumped her body on state game lands on Laurel Mountain in October.

Mr. Phillips was arrested in Buckhannon, W.Va., where he had crashed his pickup truck and had to be hospitalized.

Police in Upper Yoder, where Mr. Phillips had lived with his mother when he was not in prison on other charges, said he confessed to the killing.

Mr. Phillips pleaded guilty today to third-degree murder before Cambria County Judge Norman A. Krumenacker.

He is to be sentenced Oct. 6, one year after his mother was last seen alive by anyone other than her son, prosecutors said. Investigators believe Mr. Phillips killed his mother between Oct. 6 and 8.

Mr. Phillips could be sentenced to 25 to 50 years on the homicide charge, because the guilty plea amounts to his third strike, said District Attorney Patrick T. Kiniry.

Upper Yoder police said Mr. Phillips had raided his mother's safe and the hiding place where she had kept about $15,000.

He had the money in his possession when he was arrested.

Mr. Phillips was sentenced in 1998 to six to 12 years in prison for the assault of an elderly Upper Yoder woman who survived being choked and stabbed.

He was returned to prison shortly after his release because of a parole violation, and he completed the minimum time on that sentence.

On June 25, 2008, he was released again on parole and returned to his mother's house.

However, when he is sentenced in October, the term will be consecutive with the remainder of 6- to 25-year term, Mr. Kiniry said.

The plea satisfied the defense, the prosecution and the family of Mrs. Phillips, the district attorney said.