Damon Foy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of Alberta Dale.

The plea is a conviction for second-degree murder. It is not the sentence. The Daily Freeman reported Foy is to receive 23 years to life, two years under the 25-years-to-life maximum, and that Chief Assistant District Attorney Liz Culmone-Mills said the office would not make that recommendation without Dale's family. Fox News reported the same expected term, citing the Daily Freeman. Sentencing is set before Judge Bryan E. Rounds on Dec. 16.

The Ulster County District Attorney's Office said that on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, Damon Foy, 50, of Kerhonkson, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree in Ulster County Court before Judge Bryan E. Rounds. The office said that between March 31, 2024, and April 1, 2024, Foy murdered Alberta Dale, 44, of Pennsylvania, dismembered her, and was disposing of her body when law enforcement intervened. It said she had recently ended the relationship, and that her remains were located on April 2, 2024. The Daily Freeman reported Foy is 53, and that he answered "yes, sir" when the judge asked whether he was pleading guilty because he had killed her. The district attorney's release says 50. The Daily Freeman says 53.

The office said the Ulster County Sheriff's Office started with a welfare check on April 1, 2024, after Dale's family in Pennsylvania contacted authorities there. A missing-person search followed. On April 2, the office said, a member of the public turned in property beside a road in the Town of Wawarsing that investigators determined belonged to Dale. The Daily Freeman reported the item, found along U.S. Route 44 and state Route 55, was her cellphone, and that deputies had already found her empty vehicle at Foy's Granite Road apartment the night of April 1. Fox News, citing the New York Post, also reported the roadside item was her phone. Search warrants followed. The district attorney's office said those searches showed foul play and led to the arrest. The Daily Freeman reported a suitcase holding Dale's body parts was found in a hall closet shortly after midnight on April 3. Fox News reported court documents say officers opened a suitcase in a closet and found partial dismembered remains, including her severed head, and that the rest of the body was not found during that search. Fox News reported the documents say Foy whispered, "She's in there," and "I killed her." The Daily Freeman reported authorities said that when police found the suitcase he confessed, "She's in there, I killed her." The district attorney's release dates the discovery of the remains to April 2. The Daily Freeman dates the suitcase to April 3.

The Daily Freeman reported Dale had ended the relationship and had told a crime victims unit that if she went missing, Foy killed her. Fox News reported court documents say the same warning, that Foy had a history of domestic violence against her, that a previous incident involved a gun, and that investigators had seen an axe at the property. Fox News reported that in a later interview he told investigators he loved her, that she had played him "like a fool" and "like a sucker," and that he had been told to leave his own home. District Attorney Emmanuel C. Nneji said in the office's release, "This case exemplifies in one person the evil of domestic violence. The total selfish disregard for the life and dignity of another person is at the heart of domestic violence; Damon Foy has shown that to us." He said the law has to protect victims of domestic violence "for real, not just on paper."

The Daily Freeman reported the plea satisfies an indictment that also charged aggravated criminal contempt, concealment of a human corpse, criminal contempt, criminal mischief, assault, obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, and criminal possession of a weapon. The count he admitted is second-degree murder. The prison term is not entered yet. The Daily Freeman reported that in exchange for the plea he will be sentenced to 23 years to life, two years less than the maximum of 25 years to life. Chief Assistant District Attorney Liz Culmone-Mills told the Daily Freeman, "The District Attorney's Office would not be making this recommendation were it not for Alberta Dale's family." Fox News reported that same expected term and the same line from Culmone-Mills. The district attorney's office set sentencing for Dec. 16, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. in Ulster County Court. Culmone-Mills and Senior Assistant District Attorney Luba Reznikova are the prosecutors. Public defender Valerio Russo represents Foy. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.