IQALUIT - Mark King Jeffrey has admitted killing 13-year-old Jennifer Naglingniq in 2002.

Two days before he was scheduled to stand trial, Jeffrey pleaded guilty to second degree murder April 23. He was originally charged with first-degree murder.

He's scheduled to return to court for sentencing April 30.

Naglingniq was found dead in her mother's Iqaluit apartment on Dec. 6, 2002, from a large number of stab wounds.

Jeffrey was arrested on March 24, 2003. Another man was arrested for the murder two weeks after Naglingniq's death, but was released due to lack of evidence.

The trial has been delayed twice since Jeffrey faced a preliminary hearing in 2004.

It was to begin last September, but the hearing was delayed until this week while the judge reviewed 38 pieces of evidence.

He ruled two pieces of evidence were inadmissible and
the Crown withdrew one.