Suspect admits to Burk killing

A man charged with the murder of Marietta resident and Auburn University student, 18-year-old Lauren Burk has admitted to the killing, according to police and school officials.

Courtney Lockhart, charged with capital murder in the abduction and shooting death of Auburn University student Lauren Burk. (AP Photo/Auburn Police Department)

"According to arrest affidavits read Monday, March 10, 2008, in Lee County Circuit Court, suspect Courtney Larrell Lockhart confessed to police in the case of Auburn student Lauren Burk's death, which led to the capital murder charges filed against him on Saturday, March 8." a university statement said.

Alabama resident Lockhart, 23, described verbally and in writing how he abducted Burk from the school grounds. He then robbed her, drove her around, told her to take her clothes off and shot her with a handgun, according to court documents.

Phenix City police arrested Lockhart on Friday. Lockhart is also suspected in an armed robbery in a Columbus department store parking lot last Thursday.

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(With the Associated Press)

More of the ‘Real Thing’ is moving to Georgia

Coca-Cola is closing a veteran bottling plant in Alabama, and moving it’s workers to a nearby Georgia facility.

Atlanta-based Coke says the Opelika plant is set to close October first, after producing the “Real Thing” for almost 70-years. The 43 employees will travel 18-miles to West Point, and join 43 other workers at an existing plant there.

A Coke spokesman says the consolidation into a larger hub allows the bottler to serve more customers. The West Point plant has been operating since the 1970’s.

The move brings yet another business expansion to the burgeoning West Point area, where carmaker Kia is set to open an auto production plant by 2009.