LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — A Maiden man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to killing 63-year-old Lesa Rose in what Lincoln County officials called one of the most brutal murders they’ve ever seen
Michael Ricker, 38, accepted a plea deal on Thursday to spend the next five decades in prison. He pleaded to second-degree murder, which was amended from a first-degree murder charge.
On Oct. 21, 2023, Ricker beat Lesa Armstrong Rose with a pipe, strangled her, and tried to drown her at a home on Ginger Lane. She died at the scene.
Prosecutors revealed details in court that family members said they never heard before.
“We really hope he is never able to walk the streets again because people like him don’t change and we’ve been through hell on earth and at that point, we just want peace for the rest of our lives,” said Amber Rose, daughter.
Amber Rose said Ricker kept her trapped in an abusive relationship, set her car on fire, shot and wounded her father, then killed her mother.
“I just want to apologize to everybody. My actions were not good or justified in any way,” Ricker said in court.
Amber Rose said those words won’t remove years of pain and her mother’s an agonizing death.
“Somebody thought that they could take her away just because they were upset,” Amber Rose said.
Ricker shot and wounded her father, Teddy Rose, in June of 2023.
He fired shots into the father’s Catawba County home in a drive-by shooting, reloaded his weapon the street and did it again.
He was on bond for that shooting when he went into Lesa Rose’s home in Lincoln County.
He hit her in the head with a pipe as she slept and was stunned when she woke.
“Ms. Rose attempted to defend herself, told him to stop, but it was too late,” prosecutor Richard Shaffer said.
He hit her repeatedly, choked her and tried to drown her in an attack prosecutors say lasted several minutes.
His ex-girlfriend feared for years he may get out of jail again.
Amber Rose’s fear ended when Ricker accepted a plea for attacking both of her parents.
He will serve a minimum of 51 years in prison.
“We really hope he is never able to walk the streets again because people like him don’t change and we’ve been through hell on earth,” Amber Rose said. “And at that point, we just want peace for the rest of our lives.”
Amber Rose said she still has night terrors and the psychological wounds hit far deeper than the physical pain.
Ricker would have to live to be 87 years old to get out of prison, but prosecutors said that’s highly unlikely.
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