Sparta - A Neillsville man has pleaded no contest in the 2002 shooting deaths of a Sparta couple.

Larry Schaffer entered his plea Monday on two counts of reckless homicide in the deaths of Kale Kvistad Jr. and Connie DeGeorge.

Prosecutors agreed to ask for no more than 16 years in prison for Schaffer, 44.

They said a plea deal was warranted in part due to the passage of time in the case. Kvistad, 30, and DeGeorge, 34, disappeared from their home on Easter Sunday in 2002, leaving three children in the house.

A hunter found their remains in December 2004 under brush in a remote area near Fort McCoy. Both had been shot in the head.

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