AMERICUS — A  woman accused of shooting a man to death and dumping his body in a Macon County creek has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

 Mary Elizabeth Rogers, 44, of 436 Ga. Highway 228, Andersonville was arrested in December 2008, and charged with the murder of Demetrius Boone Sr., 28, of 1130 N. Jackson St., Americus in September 2007. Boone’s body was found off Les Smith Road in rural Macon County under the bridge over Buck Creek. The body was discovered by a passing motorist around 8 a.m. Sept. 2. The passerby notified the Macon County Sheriff’s Office.

Rogers, who has been incarcerated at the Sumter County Jail since her arrest, entered her guilty plea this week in Sumter Superior Court before Judge James Sizemore, who sentenced her to serve life in prison.

Rogers was arrested in December 2008, at a residence at 414 Dupree Road in rural Sumter County by the Sheriff’s Office and assisted by the GBI and the Georgia State Patrol Tactical Unit. She was arrested without incident, according to the sheriff.

That address is the residence of Fred Goff, 69, who was already in jail after having been arrested earlier in December  2009, on drug charges. At that time, authorities seized a substantial number of illegally possessed prescription pills, marijuana, weapons and cash at Goff’s residence.

At that time, Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith advised that Goff’s arrest was the culmination of a near-two-year investigation, with the assistance of the GBI.

A few days following Rogers’ arrest, a gun thought to be the weapon used in Boone’s murder was discovered. A Colt Cobra .38-caliber hand gun was found buried in a wooded lot next to a vacant house on Ga. Highway 228 just outside Andersonville. The sheriff said the weapon was located after developing leads in the investigation.

Smith said the investigation determined that the homicide actually occurred inside the borders of Sumter County, and not in Macon County where the body was found.

For two days, authorities were conducting crime scene investigations at Rogers’ residence, Goff’s residence, and then the wooded lot where the gun was found.

After digging up a box covered in duct tape, GBI crime scene specialist Brian Smith took the box to a table where he carefully removed the tape. Underneath was a green metal first aid kit and inside, nestled in what appeared to be an orange linen dinner napkin, lay the gun, somewhat corroded looking.

The gun was sent to the GBI lab for further analysis. The sheriff said that Boone had been shot “multiple times.”

The sheriff said Friday that Goff is currently out on bond but will be indicted soon on the drug charges.

Smith said Friday, that Rogers pleaded guilty because the state had such a strong case against her.

“This is what happens when everybody does their job and works together,” he said.

He expressed his appreciation to all involved, from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region III Americus Office to his own detectives and road patrol, the Georgia State Patrol and the “crime scene folks.”

Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Plez Hardin could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.