Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office says 33-year-old Thayon Samson pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter and other charges in the death of 31-year-old Lindsay Nichols.

  

Prosecutors say his DNA was found on bloodstained basketball shorts in the trunk with Nichols' body.

  

Friends told police they'd just met in a club.

  

Nichols was from Des Allemands (dez-AL-munz), about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans.

  

A news release says her family approved the agreement, including the maximum 40-year sentence for manslaughter.

  

He'd been scheduled for trial Monday on a charge carrying an automatic life sentence.

  

A co-defendant remains scheduled for trial.