UPDATE - Anthony "Tony" Papile, 29, of Ossipee, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the 2011 murder of Krista Dittmeyer and has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

More to follow. Full text of earlier article continues below.

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Plea, sentencing expected in death of Maine mother

OSSIPEE - A 29-year-old Ossipee man charged with murder for allegedly clubbing to death a young mother and leaving her toddler in an idling car near a North Conway snowmaking pond April 22, 2011, will make a plea and be sentenced Thursday.

A status conference that was scheduled for Thursday in the case against Anthony “Tony” Papile, who is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Krista Dittmeyer of Portland, Maine, has been changed to a plea and sentencing hearing.

Attorney General Michael Delaney announced the change of plans Wednesday afternoon.

The hearing is set for Thursday morning at 9 a.m. in Carroll County Superior Court.

Investigators believe Papile had been designated as Dittmeyer's “protector” by her boyfriend, Kyle Acker, who was sentenced to prison in Maine for a drug crime.

But rather than protect her, Papile allegedly clubbed Dittmeyer in the back of the head when she came to his Ossipee home, allegedly to deliver drugs.

Her baby was in the Nissan she drove there that night.

Trevor Ferguson, 24, of Tamworth and Michael Petelis, 29, of Ossipee, also were charged with lesser conspiracy charges and are being held, but are not expected to be part of Thursday's sentencing.

Papile has been held in lieu of $250,000 cash bail in the Carroll County jail since being charged, days after Dittmeyer's body was found in a snowmaking pond at the base of Mount Cranmore Resort.