According to a deal with prosecutors, a convicted child rapist will get a 60-year sentence for horrifically killing an autistic teenage boy and dismembering his body back in 2018.
On Thursday, 33-year-old Christopher Allen Holford appeared in a Lancaster court where he entered a guilty plea to fatally shooting Austin Steele and chopping up his corpse with several weapons.
The 18-year-old was a friend of Holford and his wife, Brandy Duncan. The trio was living together at an apartment located in 800 block of High Point Circle, court records said.
Steele’s body parts were found tossed all around the home in Feb. 2018. The rest of it was found burned in a charred barrel near the house.
“A human torso absent limbs was found buried on the property. A human skull was found outside. Bones were found in a burn barrel. Bones were found in a box under the mobile home,” according to a press release.
“A revolver was found in the main house. An ax, a broken sword, and knives were found in the mobile home.”
Police reportedly said the victim has survived multiple gunshot wounds for some hours, but Holford mercilessly left him bleeding until he died.
Holford was previously arrested for numerous charges including murder, drug possession, and domestic violence. A jury found him guilty in 2016 of child molestation.
He admitted to the horrific killing in some letters he wrote from prison. In one of them, he named himself “Hatchet Man.”
