Second suspect pleads guilty in Apex teen's slaying

Aadil Shahid Khan pleaded guilty late Wednesday to charges of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and attempted first-degree murder. He will be sentenced later.

The body of Matthew Josiah Silliman, 18, was found on Dec. 2, 2008, in an unoccupied property in New Hill. An Eagle Scout with a history of depression and bipolar disorder, he had been reported missing a week earlier.

Wake County deputies charged four teens in his death: Khan, Ryan Patrick Hare, Allegra Rose Dahlquist and Drew Logan Shaw.

Dahlquist pleaded guilty on Aug. 13 to the same charges as Khan. Shaw also has been offered a plea agreement in the case, prosecutors said.

Dahlquist, Khan and Shaw are all expected to testify against Hare during his trial. Jury selection is set for Sept. 7.

The suspects are believed to have been friends or acquaintances of Silliman. Dahlquist and Khan were seniors at Apex High School at the time, while Shaw was a sophomore at Panther Creek High School. Hare withdrew from Panther Creek High School in February 2008.

Prosecutors have said that Hare and Dahlquist were once in a romantic relationship and that Hare was jealous of Silliman's close friendship with her.

The four teens convinced Silliman that a man named "Roger" was out to get him and lured him to hide out in the abandoned home, which county real estate records show belongs to Dahlquist's family, according to prosecutors.

There, they read Silliman's fortune to him off tarot cards, and he drank wine mixed with horse tranquilizer, prosecutors said.

Silliman's hands and feet were then bound with plastic ties, and Hare hit him in the head with a hammer, prosecutors said. Silliman was still alive, so duct tape was placed over his mouth and a plastic bag over his head, they said.

Prosecutors said that Hare was the one who tightened a tie around the plastic bag.

An autopsy determined that Silliman died of asphyxiation and that his body was zipped into a sleeping bag.