Plea deal reached in murder-for-hire case

ANGOLA, Ind. – An Angola woman accused of paying $50 to an undercover police officer to have her estranged husband killed has reached a plea agreement.

A judge will determine the length of the sentence for 45-year-old Mollie Krontz. She agreed to the plea deal with Steuben County prosecutors Monday.

Authorities said Krontz wanted her husband dead because she was upset about the custody battle over their 5-year-old daughter. She was arrested in 2007 after meeting with an undercover state police detective who was posing as a hit man.

Horse rescued

RICHMOND, Ind. – Firefighters who helped rescue a horse from a swimming pool said they arrived just as the animal seemed ready to give up treading water.

Authorities say the horse fell into a couple’s backyard pool Monday after walking onto the pool cover.

Richmond Fire Chief Mike Crawley said his crew told him the horse was exhausted and appeared about ready to give up by the time firefighters and sheriff’s deputies arrived.

It took them an hour to pull the horse from the pool. The horse, which had escaped from a nearby pasture, was taken to a nearby heated barn and recovered within a few hours.