Arizona man pleads guilty in slaying

A Golden Valley, Ariz., man, who has admitted clubbing a longtime friend to death before using a saw to dismember him, entered a guilty plea Friday in Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman.

Oral Nobles, 73, was convicted of second-degree murder and fraud in a plea agreement that allows Judge Steve Conn to impose up to an 18-year prison term during sentencing Aug. 3.

Defense attorney Rick Williams explained that Nobles administered the trust of Kenneth Stuart, 71, who could not read or write.

He said Nobles struck Stuart in the head with a bag of bolts in self-defense after Stuart swung a tire bar at him during an argument at their home on Hope Road in 2003.

“The defendant then cut the victim into 13 pieces and stored the body in an unplugged freezer,” prosecutor Megan McCoy said.

She said Nobles drove the freezer all the way to Massachusetts where it was placed in a storage unit before the business manager made the gruesome discovery 2 1/2 years after the homicide.

McCoy said Nobles deposited Stuart’s Social Security checks into their joint account, spending about $25,000 before the case unfolded.