COQUILLE - Daniel R. Peck was “talking to God” last October when he decided to kidnap a retired California man, strangle him, strip him naked and bury him in a shallow grave on the North Spit.

Those were among the details that emerged Wednesday morning as the Coos County District Attorney's Office and Peck's defense attorneys finalized a plea agreement at the Coquille Courthouse.

During the hearing, Peck pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Judge Richard Barron.

The deal kept Peck from facing a death penalty trial.

“The agreement struck with Mr. Peck is intended to guarantee that Mr. Peck never has another free day in his life,” said Coos County Chief Deputy District Attorney R. Paul Frasier.

Five family members of the strangling victim - John F. Hildebrand - including his wife, Caroline, two daughters and their husbands, sat side-by-side holding hands in the front row of the courtroom as the hearing began. None of them spoke during the hearing. They requested not to be questioned by reporters.

“They indicated they are satisfied with the arrangement that we have agreed to,” Frasier said of the family.

As he explained the terms of the plea agreement, which Peck and his attorneys - William Dials of Charleston and Gerald Petersen of Corvallis agreed to - courtgoers also learned the grisly details of what transpired one day last October.

On Oct. 3, Hildebrand, and his wife, had returned to an RV park in Coos County which they planned to use as a home base as they traveled throughout the United States. They had just sold their home in California, purchased a new pickup truck, camper and fifth-wheel and were set to live out the golden years of their lives.

But it wasn't to be.

The following day, Hildebrand, who had retired from the U.S. Air Force and Hewlett-Packard, went to the Wagon Wheel Grocery Store, 69845 Wildwood Drive, in Hauser to purchase water for a battery. According to Frasier, when Hildebrand left the store, Peck “came literally out of nowhere and attacked Mr. Hildebrand.”

Two UPS employees having lunch at the store witnessed the attack, tried to intervene, but backed off when Peck threatened them. They opted to call 911 instead, Frasier said. When the store's owner came out to see what was going on, Peck had forced Hildebrand into Peck's truck and drove away at a high rate of speed, but not before the men were first able to get the make, model and license plate of the vehicle.

Within in hour, police located the truck on the North Spit near the end of the Trans-Pacific Parkway.

But no one was there.

Officers called in Coos Bay Police officers Chris Chapanar and Pete Kirk with the tracking dog, Niels. Upon arrival, the dog led them amongst the nearby sand, scrub brush and beach grass where the officers found Peck standing over the body of Hildebrand, who had been stripped naked and strangled with a belt.

Peck was burying the body.

“Unfortunately by the time police were able to locate them, Mr. Hildebrand had already been killed,” Frasier said.

Peck did not go willingly.

The dog was released to try to subdue him. That didn't work. The officers used pepper spray. But Peck kept coming. Eventually, Kirk restrained Peck by striking him in the face with the butt of a shotgun and Peck has been in custody ever since.

Investigators said they still have no motive why Peck killed Hildebrand.

“We don't know why he did this at this point, or why he targeted Mr. Hildebrand that day,” Frasier said, noting the men were strangers to one another.

Peck and his lawyers were preparing for a month-long jury trial scheduled to begin this January. They said Wednesday they were planning to use insanity as a defense.

Based on interviews with friends and family, Dials said Peck, who had been working as a logger and who had a drug and alcohol problem, had become increasingly delusional over the year preceding the strangling.

“He was seeing things. He was hearing voices. He was talking to God,” Dials said. “The only answer that we can give to the family, I submit and believe, is that Mr. Peck thought that he was working under instructions from somewhere else - that that was what he was told to do.”

Despite Peck's state of mind that day, Dials said after an evaluation at the state mental hospital when doctors prescribed medication, Peck was deemed competent to stand trial.

“He knew what he was doing,” Dials said. “There is no question it was intentional. But there was something definitely wrong with Mr. Peck at the time.”

Dials said the decision to go with the plea agreement was the result of Peck's changed temperament.

During his discussions with Peck, Dials said the defendant continually said he did not understand how Hildebrand died and “that he wished it hadn't occurred.”

“He offers his apologies to the family,” Dials said. “He doesn't offer any excuses. He doesn't offer any real good explanation.”

Peck, freshly shaven except for a mustache and goatee, was present for the hearing and sat, looking forlorn, between his two attorneys with hands shackled and dressed in a blue Coos County jail jumpsuit. He offered no answer to the court either, but did apologize when Barron asked if he had anything to say.

“Just that I'm sorry - with all my heart - I'm sorry,” Peck said.

Barron spoke directly to Peck, asking him multiple times if he had been threatened or coerced, or if his mental faculties were askew when he agreed to the deal.

Barron also pointed out to Peck that if his attorneys decided to go forward with the insanity defense, there was a chance Peck could be committed to the state's psychiatric security review board and could one day be released by them.

“By withdrawing that, you are basically saying you did not have a mental disease or defect under the law. You are giving that up forever on this case. Do you agree?”

“Yes,” Peck said.

“You understand that if you plead guilty to this charge that I will sentence you to prison and that you will never leave?” Barron asked.

“Yes, sir,” Peck said, moments before he pleaded guilty to the murder.

Barron then went through a short history of Peck's encounters with law enforcement, noting he had four misdemeanor assaults on his rap sheet.

“This type of violent behavior is not in your past - but it is now,” Barron said.

A few moments later, the hearing was over. Frasier made his way over to talk with the Hildebrand family.

Peck, surrounded by five armed guards, shuffled out a side door.