UPDATE: Petto plea 'in her best interest,' attorney says

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Theresa Petto has pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the death of Rachel Drafta.

Petto pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony murder. She will seek mental health treatment while in custody.

The plea came in the middle of Petto's murder trial in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court. It came hours after she tried to enter the same plea Thursday morning. She was set to testify Thursday afternoon.

Petto 45, of Hastings was charged with one count each of open murder, felony murder and attempted unlawful imprisonment, and three counts of felony firearm use. Her murder trial started Wednesday morning in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.

Police say Petto shot 25-year-old Rachel Drafta in the driveway of Drafta's parents' Portage home on June 24, 2015. Drafta died two days later.

When Kalamazoo County Circuit Court Judge Alexander Lipsey asked Petto if she shot Drafta, Petto said, "Yes, your honor." When Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mike Reisterer asked whether Drafta had a weapon, Petto said she did not, and that Petto had her weapon in her pocket.

Petto allegedly was upset with Drafta because Drafta was dating Petto's ex-boyfriend, Brent Kik, police have said. The shooting happened four years to the day that Petto's baby, fathered by her former boyfriend, Brent Kik, was found dead in Petto's Hastings apartment. The medical examiner determined the 3-week-old baby had suffered a skull fracture, but Petto denied causing the injury.

A Portage police officer testified he found several clothing items in Petto's Jeep, along with trash bags, two kitchen knives, scissors a machete and zip ties.

When Petto was arrested several doors down from Drafta's house, she had a backpack which contained several rounds of .22 caliber ammunition, zip ties, rubber gloves, trash bags and mace. A .22 revolver registered to Petto was found underneath a camper in the driveway, Portage police officer Trevor Patterson testified Wednesday morning.

Portage police officer Gregory Burke, who worked the shooting as a crime scene technician, testified Wednesday afternoon he found several notes in the Jeep, including one titled "Step by steps to make I come home." The notes included steps such as "before I leave double check all trash out in car," and "don't leave until girls know not to call or text me all night."

Another series of notes written on yellow Post-its read, in part:"If I start to chicken recall what she did and of them being naked together. She should have never even been an option. Picture her car, my spot, her my side bed, her wake up beside him, where I should be. Her in my shower and her stuff in my drawer in bathroom."

With the plea of guilty but mentally ill, Petto will serve life without parole, however she will be able to seek mental health treatment at a psychiatric hospital. She will be sentenced Monday, Oct. 17.