GUYTON, Ga. — The step-grandmother of two Effingham County children whose bodies were found buried in the family’s backyard has pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kim Wright admitted to multiple charges, including two counts of malice murder, aggravated sexual battery, cruelty to children, concealing a death and false imprisonment.

The case drew national attention in December 2018, when investigators acting on a tip discovered the bodies of 14-year-old Mary Crocker and her brother, Elwyn Crocker Jr., who had disappeared two years earlier at age 14. Authorities later revealed the children suffered severe abuse, including beatings, confinement and neglect.

Wright is the fourth of five defendants in the case to plead guilty. Her son, Mark Anthony Wright; her daughter, Candice Crocker; and Candice’s boyfriend, Roy Prater, are all serving life without parole. The children’s father, Elwyn Crocker Sr., is the only suspect who has not entered a plea.