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Two men charged with murder in the 1973 shotgun slayings of two young girls in Northern California have entered pleas to murder charges in court.

The Yuba County deputy district attorney says Larry Don Patterson pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder Tuesday and his cousin, William Lloyd Harbour pleaded no contest to the same charges.

The two were charged in September with six counts each in the killings of 12-year-old Valerie Janice Lane and 13-year-old Doris Karen Derryberry in a long-stalled cold case.

The girls' mothers first reported them missing on Nov. 12, 1973, after they failed to return home overnight from a shopping trip to the mall.

Both men, both 65, face five years to life in prison, under sentencing laws at the time of the crime.