SANDPOINT — A murder suspect who eluded authorities last spring in Bonner County pleaded guilty on Monday, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

James Patrick Mancuso pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Mancuso, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28, 2017, in 3rd District Court in Caldwell. He remains held at the Canyon County Jail with bail set at $5 million.

Mancuso and Ashley Nicoli Ford were the subject of a traffic stop in Kootenai on March 23, but fled from law enforcement.

Their getaway vehicle was later found abandoned and the couple allegedly stole a pickup truck.

Ford, 28, was apprehended in Las Vegas in May. Mancuso was arrested in Spokane County, Wash., in June.

Mancuso was wanted in connection with the stabbing death of Robert L. Stevens during an argument outside a Nampa home on March 10. Stevens, 30, was partially disemboweled after being stabbed in the lower right abdomen, according to a news report published by the Idaho Press-Tribune. Stevens died of his wounds on March 11.

A binding plea agreement is being proposed in the case, although its terms are not specified in the online courts database or news accounts of Mancuso’s plea. If the court agrees to bind itself to the agreement, it would essentially guarantee that the sentencing recommendations would be imposed.

If the court refuses to adopt the agreement, defendants may be allowed to rescind their plea and proceed to trial.

Ford is charged with harboring a subject wanted for a felony offense and remains free on conditional pretrial release, according to the state courts website. A status conference in her case is set for Jan. 30, 2017.

Mancuso was convicted in a 1999 aggravated battery case in Ada County, according to the data repository. He was convicted of battery, eluding and possession of a stolen vehicle in a 2004 Bonner County case. He was also convicted of driving under the influence and grand theft by possession in a 2003 Bonner County case.

The repository states Mancuso was charged with theft and burglary in Boundary County, but those charges were dismissed by the state.