STOCKTON, Apr. 3 – Michael Lee Monfort, 24, pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree murder in the Nov. 10 death of Lauren Willet, 19, and three co-defendants pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of being accessories after the fact of murder.

Initially, James Craig, 33, Nancy Pitman, 24, and Priscilla Cooper, 21, had also been charged with murder. After the charge was reduced to “being an accessory,” they immediately pleaded guilty.

The women have been described as former girl friends of convicted killer Charles Manson.

All four are to appear April 23 in San Joaquin County Superior Court for sentencing.

Mrs. Willet’s body was found in a shallow grave under a home occupied by the group at 720 W. Flora St. A week earlier, the decapitated body of Mrs. Willet’s husband, James Willet, 26, was unearthed near Guerneville, Sonoma County.

Montfort, Craig and William Goucher, 23, still face a murder charge in that case. Monfort also faces a robbery charge stemming from the holdup of a north Stockton liquor store.

Judicial officers indicated the latest court actions may have saved San Joaquin County as much as $100,000 in court costs, which would have been generated by a long trial.