Matthew David Dean, 18, pleaded guilty in McDuffie County Superior Court to two malice murder charges stemming from the Aug. 3 shooting deaths of David Dean, 40, and Terri Dean, 35. Each was shot with a .22-caliber pistol in the kitchen of the family's home in the Belle Meade Country Club subdivision in Thomson, and Mrs. Dean was bludgeoned in the head.

Mr. Dean also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on his sister Bethany, who was stabbed three times with a knife and hit in the head. She escaped and ran to a neighbor's house, where she reported the shooting of her parents.

Mr. Dean was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be served concurrently with the life terms, on that charge. He will have to serve a minimum of 28 years before he is eligible for parole, District Attorney Dennis Sanders said.

After the attacks, Mr. Dean fled to Florida in the family car. He was captured the next day after a head-on collision with a pickup truck at inside the grounds of Kennedy Space Center. The pickup's driver, Eddie Delawder, 52, of Winter Park, Fla., was killed, and Mr. Dean was seriously injured.

Before sentencing, Mr. Dean - still on crutches - stood and apologized for his crimes.

"I'm genuinely sorry for the acts. I do take total responsibility," he said. "I've lost two people very dear to me. I've lost my whole life. I've made my apologies to my parents and to my sister. I take full responsibility."

At about 4 p.m. on the day of the slayings, Mr. Dean's girlfriend dropped him off at a Thomson business, where he met Brandon Jordan, a friend, and the two went to buy cocaine, Mr. Sanders said.

"This would appear to be a daily habit with Mr. Jordan and Mr. Dean," he said.

Afterward, Mr. Dean went home, and an argument ensued between him and his father. At about 6:30 p.m., Mrs. Dean arrived home, and Bethany came in from softball practice and showered and began drying her hair. Mr. and Mrs. Dean were sitting at the kitchen table when their son left the room, then returned with a .22-caliber pistol, walked up behind his father and shot him in the back of the head, Mr. Sanders said.

Mrs. Dean went to assist her husband and might have been kneeling when she was shot. The bullet went into her earlobe and down into her body, but she might have walked away before being shot in the center of the back. She also had two other severe injuries on her head, one a laceration and the other a large wound atop her head, indicating that she had been struck, Mr. Sanders said.

Bethany heard the first gunshot and came running into the room, where her brother began hitting her with an object. She fell, and he left, then returned and told her to call for help. After she dialed 911 and got a busy signal, her brother took the phone from her and stabbed her three times, Mr. Sanders said. As she tried to get away, he began hitting her with a pot. She then lay down beside her mother and pretended to be dead, Mr. Sanders said.

Mr. Dean hangs his head as his aunt Traci Arrington tearfully asks for the mercy of the court. The 18-year-old received his sentence Tuesday for the August deaths and stabbing. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

Mr. Dean took money from his parents' wallets and left, leaving a note that stated:, "I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why I've done it. I love everybody. Bye," Mr. Sanders said.

Bethany waited 20 to 25 minutes to be sure her brother had gone, Mr. Sanders said.

Mr. Dean called his girlfriend and told her that his mother, father and sister were dead and that he planned to kill himself. He drove to Florida, where on a straight stretch of road the next day the car he was driving collided head-on with Mr. Delawder's truck, Mr. Sanders said.

The prosecutor said he knew of no charges pending in that wreck.

About four dozen tearful family members, friends and neighbors were present Tuesday to hear Mr. Dean enter his guilty plea. His maternal aunt Traci Arrington begged the judge for mercy. She said he had battled drugs and depression for two years.

"I begged David and Terri to do something a week before this happened," she said. "Matt asked for rehab, but his daddy wanted him to be strong. I ask you not to make him pay for the rest of his life because he didn't get the help he needed."

Mr. Dean's maternal grandmother, Wanda Hyman, said the family was so involved with her husband's terminal illness they put off dealing with Mr. Dean's problems.

"Time was not on our side," she said. "Our hearts are so filled with guilt for what we could have done."

The slayings shocked and saddened many people in Thomson, where David and Terri Dean were well-known. They were by all accounts a religious, hard-working couple. Mr. Dean worked at J.M. Huber Corp.'s plant in Wrens and built houses in his off-time, assisted by his wife, a substitute teacher at Norris Elementary School.

"If we have ever had a tragedy of gigantic proportions, this is it," Superior Court Judge Roger Dunaway said in sentencing Mr. Dean. "This has torn this community apart."

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylviaco@augustachronicle.com.