MOORHEAD — A Norman County woman charged in a 2018 farmstead murder entered a plea Tuesday, Jan. 28 — just weeks before she was set for trial in Clay County District Court, where she faced the possibility of an enhanced sentence.

Kayla Louise Westcott, 36, submitted an Alford plea to a count of second-degree aiding and abetting a murder with intent, but not premeditation. An Alford plea means Westcott does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict her at trial.

Westcott was charged in connection with the death of Troy Yarbrough, a Wahpeton, N.D., man whose remains were discovered on a farmstead in Hitterdal, Minn., after he'd been missing for over a month.

Jason Jensen, the owner of the farmstead, said he and Westcott had picked up Yarbrough the weekend of May 19, 2018, and that the three were in a shed on the farmstead when Westcott hit Yarbrough with a cinder block.

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Jensen said when he and Westcott returned hours later and found Yarbrough alive, Westcott struck him with an ax. Jensen acknowledged disposing of Yarbrough’s body, but denied having a part in the killing.

Westcott, however, claimed Jensen assaulted Yarbrough, first with an ax and then a cinder block.

Jensen pleaded guilty in April 2019 to a felony count of second-degree aiding and abetting a murder with intent, but not premeditation, in Yarbrough’s death. In June, Jensen was sentenced to more than 38 years in prison.

Westcott, who was deemed fit to aid in her own defense after a mental evaluation, was set to go to trial in February. She had faced the possibility of more time in prison after Judge Michael Fritz granted the prosecution’s request for the possibility of an enhanced sentence. The prosecution had argued that the cruelty of the crime warranted a greater penalty.

Westcott's sentencing is set for March 2.