Deputies: Man admits killing elderly couple in 2013 fire

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say a man already in jail charged in a 2014 beating death has admitted he also killed an elderly Sumter County couple by setting their home on fire after a burglary a year earlier

Deputies said in a news release Sunday that 34-year-old Jason Compton now faces two additional murder charges, along with first-degree arson and burglary charges in the deaths of 87-year-old Edward Hall and his wife, 83-year-old Harriett, in 2013.

Compton has been in jail without bail or more than a year awaiting trial after investigators said he beat a woman to death with a metal hammer while making a 14-year-old girl watch. Authorities say another woman in the home was able to call police.

An email to Compton’s lawyer was not returned.