A Colorado Springs man accused in a brutal slaying over a $100 drug debt pleaded guilty Thursday rather than face an upcoming trial in which two of his three co-defendants were slated to testify against him.

Jason Bomsta, 34, agreed to serve a 54-year prison term under a plea deal with prosecutors.

Facing trial on charges of first-degree murder, Bomsta pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping in the death of 40-year-old Duane Maasch, whose body was found June 15, 2010, in a child’s toy box beside Rampart Range Road three miles north of Garden of the Gods.

A judge will decide whether to accept the plea agreement at a sentencing scheduled for Sept. 26, the date Bomsta’s trial would have begun.

Thursday’s plea closes the book on a murder investigation that began when an anonymous tip led Colorado Springs police to Maasch’s body 11 days after he was reported missing.

A plastic bag covered Maasch’s head, and his limbs were bound with duct tape. An autopsy found he died of asphyxiation.

According to prosecutors, Bomsta, his wife and two other men played a role in the killing at Bomsta’s apartment in the Copper Chase Apartments on Southgate Road in south-central Colorado Springs.

A witness saw Bomsta repeatedly kick Maasch with his bare feet, and told authorities that Bomsta’s wife injected something into his arm with a needle during the assault.

JoBeth Bomsta, 30, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree assault in exchange for a 14- to 16-year sentence. A judge will impose her penalty on Oct. 24.

Two co-defendants, Peter Steven Miller, 39, and Christopher Anthony McKinley, 22, were slated to testify against Jason Bomsta under plea deals in which they admitted participating in the killing or the cover-up.

Miller, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, faces 16 to 48 years in prison if a judge accepts his plea deal Oct. 11.

McKinley pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and faces probation. He will remain in custody until his sentencing, set for Oct. 24.

In this July 30, 2011 file photo, One World Trade Center rises above the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty in New York. The tower will be 104 floors and 1,776 feet (541 meters) tall when completed. Ten years after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, the new World Trade Center is rising from ground zero. Photo by AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

Mark Lennihan