Teen held drug party and installed stripper pole after killing father

A teenager held a drug-fuelled party and installed a stripper pole in the family kitchen after killing her father and hiding the body in a shed, a North Carolina prosecutor said.

Crystal Brooke Howell, of Maggie Valley, North Carolina, admitted shooting her father, Michael Howell, in the head on 24 February, 2014, while he napped, WYFF reported.

Her father was former Columbia County News-Times sports editor Michael Howell.

She said she then hid the body of her father for a month inside a plastic container in the family's storage shed. His body was found on March 22 by guests staying in the family's log cabin near Maggie Valley. They were moving a pinball machine into the shed when they found the body.

Crystal Howell, now 20, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder and concealing a death/failing to report a death not from natural causes.

"Miss Howell had previously told her friends that her father had killed himself," assistant district attorney Jeff Jones told WYFF. "She then started to drive his car and spend his money. She had her friends move in, had a drug-fuelled party and even had a stripper pole installed in the kitchen."

Crystal Howell, now 20, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder and concealing a death.

She was sentenced to five years in prison for the second charge, and an additional 25 years before she can be considered for parole for murder.

"It's shocking that a young woman kills her father," District Attorney Ashley Welch said. "But the fact that Howell then began to spend her father's money, use his house and drive his car – all after hiding his body and the evidence of her crime – that's the motive. She wanted to live on her terms at the expense of Michael Howell's life. It's very sad."