John Bridges Pleads Guilty to Murder & Kidnapping - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

An unusual murder case -- gets even more bizarre today...

John Bridges is charged with abducting and killing 40 year old Lee Clay in Burleigh County.

It happened just last month and today Bridges says he wanted to represent himself and get the case over with...

A move that's very rare this early in the court process.

"I just want to go ahead and get this over with, plead guilty and get this over with," says John Bridges.

No negotiations, no deals, Bridges just wants to plead guilty to the AA murder charge.

Judge Cynthia Feland asked Bridges numerous times if he wanted an attorney, he refused. Saying he can make the decision on his own.

"Lets just get on with it," says Bridges.

Bridges says he gave a full confession to authorities... And those details were revealed -- starting with what motivated him to kill Lee Clay and want to kill another man...

North Dakota BCI Special Agent Tim Myers says, "His (Bridges) dream was very vivid. He believed they were taking pictures with their cell phones and video of him with their cell phones and they were going to use it against him." Burleigh County Prosecutor Lloyd Suhr asks, "based on that dream does he make any decisions?" Myers says, "yes, he knew what he had to do and he was going to go confront him on his suspicions."

Bridges went to Walmart and Menards in three separate trips to buy zip ties, duct tape and a knife... Items Bridges used to restrain and kill 40 year old Lee Clay in his van.

Myers says, "Bridges used zip ties to restrain Clay's wrists and ankles."

Myers says an autopsy confirmed Clay had been restrained, stabbed and cut with an ax multiple times.

"Bridges intentions were to take him to country, kill him bury him," says Myers.

But before Bridges could dump the body -- he crashed on I-94 just east of Bismarck.

Agent Myers says Bridges was caught on camera -- trying to hide the zip ties and knife -- and later admitted to dumping bottles of urine in the van to contaminate the crime scene.

Bridges says he has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

He will be sentenced following an evaluation.

The victim, Lee Clay, had recently moved to Bismarck from Georgia for work.