BENNINGTON, Vt. — A former Lanesborough, Mass., woman's bravery was the key to solving a 40-year-old Vermont murder mystery. 

 

David A. Morrison, 65, pleaded guilty Tuesday in District Court in Pittsfield, Mass., to the kidnapping of Laura Sheridan in 1981 and, in Bennington Criminal Division Court, to the murder of 32-year-old Sarah Hunter of Manchester in 1986. 

 

He was sentenced to up to four years on the kidnapping charge and life without parole on the murder charge, both to be served in Vermont and concurrent with a 20-to-life sentence he was serving in California. Morrison waived his right to appeal. 

 

Sheridan, who was just 15 at the time, was hitchhiking home in Lanesborough when Morrison offered her ride; she subsequently struggled with him over a gun he pulled on her and was able to escape when he pulled his car over. 

 

Hunter wasn't as fortunate: she was reported missing on Sept. 19, 1986, and her body was found in a wooded lot in Pawlet two months later. 

 

"I spent 20 minutes with David Morrison and no more, then I escaped. ... I had luck on my side. So those are my emotions," said Sheridan at a press conference on Wednesday outside the Bennington County State's Attorney's Office in the Bennington State Office Complex  

 

"And then yesterday, when I kind of fully processed what this meant for Sarah Hunter, that was really tough, because she wasn't lucky."