McRAE-HELENA, Ga. — A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a Georgia couple found fatally shot nearly a decade ago after being lured to a rural county by a false offer to sell them a classic car.

Ronnie “Jay” Towns pleaded guilty Monday in Telfair County Superior Court to two counts of malice murder in the January 2015 killings of Bud and June Runion.

Superior Court Judge Sara Wall sentenced Towns to life in prison with no chance of parole, WMAZ-TV reported. Towns’ plea spared him from a possible death sentence if he had been convicted by a jury.

Investigators said the Runions traveled more than three hours from their home in Marietta outside Atlanta to Telfair County expecting to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang from someone who had contacted 69-year-old Bud Runion online. Instead, they were robbed and fatally shot. Authorities found their bodies beside a county road.

Towns was arrested a few days later and charged with armed robbery and murder.

— The Associated Press