NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — A transient who killed a Newton woman and her 4-year-old daughter pleaded guilty to capital murder but will not face the death penalty.

Twenty-year-old Keith Hawkins will serve life in prison without parole after entering the plea deal Friday. He admitted killing 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and her daughter, Zaylynn Paz, in August at their duplex in Newton.

Investigators have said Runyon apparently was strangled and her daughter was stabbed.

Hawkins was a homeless man who was visiting Runyon. He was arrested in Texas in August.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder said the victims’ families agreed to the plea deal.

Hawkins was a sex offender but his prior conviction was not placed on the public offender registry.