A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering three people during a multi-state crime spree in which the victims’ bodies were burned in West Virginia, according to federal prosecutors. Monroe Merrell, 29, of Westminster, pleaded guilty to three charges involving kidnapping, murder and witness tampering causing death, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia. Merrell and others then transported him across state lines into West Virginia. Merrell stabbed J.R. multiple times during the trip, killing him, according to prosecutors. The pair were taken from Maryland to the Falling Waters area of West Virginia, where they were drugged and partially incapacitated.