Arsonist Pleads Guilty To First-Degree Murder -- Keller Set 1992 Fire That Killed Three At North Seattle Retirement Home

Serial arsonist Paul Kenneth Keller today pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder for setting a blaze that killed three women at a North Seattle retirement home last year.

Keller, who turns 28 next week, entered his plea immediately after being arraigned before King County Superior Court Judge Jim Bates.

Keller appeared relaxed as he answered the judge's questions. His father, George Keller, wept.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to charge Keller with any other arsons.

King County prosecutors say they will recommend Keller be sentenced to 99 years in prison, the maximum allowed. Sentencing is scheduled for March 10.

Keller, of Lynnwood, was sentenced in May to 75 years in prison after he confessed to setting dozens of fires in Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kittitas counties.

Killed in the Sept. 22, 1992, fire at the Four Freedoms House retirement home were Bertha Nelson, 93, Mary Dorris, 77, and Adeline Stockness, 70.

Defense attorney Royce Ferguson said Keller admitted setting the fatal fire shortly after being charged last week. Keller insists he did not mean to kill anyone.

But Deputy Prosecutor Tim Bradshaw said he was prepared to show how Keller drew fire personnel and equipment away from the retirement home by setting other fires.

Bradshaw also noted that one of the arsons Keller admitted to earlier this year was at another King County retirement home just six days after the Four Freedoms fire.

The Four Freedoms fire, which also injured 30 people and caused more than $1 million damage, was first classified as accidental, but investigators later found evidence of arson.

Keller was turned in by his family last February after the region had been plagued by a series of arsons.