John DeRosia told Lynnwood police that he "just lost it" when his wife hit him in November.

He hit her back, then grabbed a sweater and pulled it tightly around her neck to quiet her. He strangled her to death, and then went to sleep in the same bed as his dead wife.

On Tuesday, DeRosia, 49, of Lynnwood told Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Charles French that he was guilty of second-degree murder in the Nov. 14 incident.

DeRosia is scheduled to be sentenced March 9 by Judge George Bowden and stands to spend 16 years behind bars.

The standard range under state law is 12 to 20 years in prison, but deputy prosecutor Bonnie Tweten and public defender Kathleen Kyle have agreed to recommend the 16-year term.

In court papers, DeRosia said, "I intentionally caused the death of Marilyn DeRosia in Snohomish County, Wash."

DeRosia surprised detectives when he walked into the Lynnwood Police Department and handed a note to a clerk giving his address. The note said: "In the back bedroom is my wife. She is dead. So I am here to turn myself in for killing wife. The door is unlocked so you can get in."

Court documents say DeRosia told detectives he and his wife had been drinking vodka, beer and wine coolers at their home in the 5900 block of 200th Street SW, and they began to argue.

She hit him on the shoulder, and DeRosia said he was tired of being hit by his wife and returned the blow with both fists, hitting her in the face, Tweten said.

She was making a noise, and he wanted her to be quiet, so he grabbed the sweater and pulled it tight, court documents say. He eased the pressure, then reapplied it a couple of times.

When she stopped making noise, he went to sleep at the foot of the bed.

The next morning, he rolled his wife’s body over, removed the sweater from her neck and covered her with blankets. DeRosia went to the store to buy more beer, which he drank throughout the day. He slept two more nights at the foot of the bed, documents say.

He told detectives he did not contact police sooner because "he wanted to say goodbye to Marilyn," documents say.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.