Marylou Johnson

OBSERVER Staff Report

LITTLE VALLEY — A Busti woman has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the death of a man found in Cattaraugus County last year.

The plea on behalf of 74-year-old Marylou Johnson was made Monday in Cattaraugus County Court in Little Valley, the District Attorney’s Office told several media outlets.

Johnson was taken into custody in September 2018 on charges of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault, driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident without reporting serious injury. She was charged after 48-year-old Busti resident Wilfredo Rodriguez-Colon was found dead by a passing ATV rider April 21, 2018, on Swanson Hill Road in Randolph.

An investigation by the New York State Police included a detailed examination of the scene and interviews of the people who were with Rodriguez-Colon when he was last seen. The interviews and evidence collected from the scene led investigators to a vehicle allegedly involved in Rodriguez-Colon’s death.

The case was then presented to a Cattaraugus County grand jury by the Cattaraugus County District Attorney’s Office.

Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on the felony charge Sept. 16 in County Court.