A man has officially pleaded guilty after luring a gay man to woods for sex and then kicking him with steel-toed boots until he died.

Kelly Schneider, a 23-year-old from Boise, Idaho, has agreed to admitted to the federal hate crime.

This means he is hoping to be sentenced to 28 years in prison rather than spend the rest of his life behind bars.

His sentencing is set for 26 April.

In an earlier court date, Schneider confessed to luring 49-year-old victim Steven Nelson on Backpage, offering sex in exchange for payment, along with a shirtless photo of himself. Nelson responded, and the two men met the same night. Schneider took Nelson’s money, but the two did not engage in sex.

What Nelson did not know was Schneider planned a robbery and had two friends lying in wait in case Nelson resisted.

But as soon as they arrived, Schneider started to beat Nelson.

The victim volunteered his ATM number and begged for his life, saying: ‘Please don’t kill me. Take whatever you want.’

He then stripped Nelson and left him in the woods in 30-degree weather, driving away in Nelson’s car, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Barefoot, nude and critically injured, Nelson managed to make it to a house about a half-mile away to get help. Transported to hospital with broken ribs, a bleeding ear and internal injuries, he died of a cardiac arrest hours later.

Schneider faces up to life in prison on the state murder charge. Three other men – Jayson Woods, 28; Kevin R Tracy, 21; and Daniel Henkel, 23, are being charged with murder in connection with the death. They are awaiting trial.

Nelson managed a call center at Boise State University and in 2014 appeared in same-sex marriage documentary Little Blue Dots.