Man pleads guilty to concealing body, animal cruelty

Edme Merle-Perez disappeared in March

ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke man could spend the next 15 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to concealing a dead body and animal cruelty.

Dayshaun Kent was charged after human remains were found on Radford Road last July.

Prosecutors say evidence presented Wednesday morning indicated the body was that of Edme Merle-Perez, who disappeared last March.

Kent was not charged in her death because an autopsy on the skeletal remains could not determine how she died.

Kent also admitted to killing Merle-Perez's two cats.

He will be sentenced in April.