Salinas man pleads guilty to killing elderly dad.

Matthew Roberts of Salinas pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing his elderly father last year and leaving his body to rot in a trailer for about 10 days.

Evidence in the case showed that Jerry Roberts, 71, died from a broken neck, but the question remains on whether the fatal injury was sustained as a result of strangulation or a fall during an altercation with his son, says Assistant District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni.

Regardless of those details, Roberts pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and additional enhancements for having prior violent convictions on Tuesday. Those convictions included the shooting of his stepfather eight years prior.

Roberts is facing a maximum sentence of 22 years in state prison and will be sentenced April 19.

The gruesome crime was discovered in February 2015 after Salinas police found the body of the 71-year-old in a box within a travel trailer in front of his Salinas residence. His body was wrapped in plastic and bed sheets.

The medical examiner estimated the body has been there for about 10 days. While Roberts’ body decomposed in the trailer, his son was driving his truck and withdrawing money from his bank account, investigators found.