Male exotic dancer pleads to shooting woman, setting car on fire near New Orleans

Louisiana prosecutors say a male exotic dancer and barber has admitted shooting a woman and setting her car on fire with her body in the trunk.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office says 33-year-old Thayon Samson pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter and other charges in the death of 31-year-old Lindsay Nichols.

Prosecutors say his DNA was found on bloodstained basketball shorts in the trunk with Nichols’ body.

Friends told police they’d just met in a club.

Nichols was from Des Allemands, about 25 miles southwest of New Orleans.

A news release says her family approved the agreement, including the maximum 40-year sentence for manslaughter.

He’d been scheduled for trial Monday on a charge carrying an automatic life sentence.

A co-defendant remains scheduled for trial.