LAS CRUCES - A homeless man who was once one of the city's most wanted fugitives pleaded guilty the day before a four-day trial was to begin in the slaying of another homeless man in 2007.

Luis Daniel Alvarez Macias, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years on probation, according to the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office.

He had faced an open count of murder in the case.

On Jan. 29, 2007, Macias stabbed 49-year-old Mark Cobb in the throat and beat him in a brushy desert area near the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 412 building on Bataan Memorial East. The two had been seen fighting by two witnesses in the area where the victim's body was discovered, court documents said. Neither witness stopped the fight, but one called 911.

A passerby later discovered the body Jan. 29, 2007, face down in a pool of blood, about 40 feet from Bataan Memorial East near Jornada Road and McGuffy Street, and flagged down a passing police officer.

Macias was last seen washing up at a nearby gas station. The attendant there reported he left blood on the sink.

Almost 21 months after the killing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers apprehended Macias, a U.S. citizen, at the Paso del Norte international bridge in El Paso as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. He was booked into the El Paso County jail and later extradited to New Mexico.

Macias has a prior conviction for battery against a household member.

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He has also been charged on two occasions with resisting an officer, but both of those charges were dismissed.

Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462