FREMONT— A Dodge County man has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for killing a 56-year-old North Bend woman he had dated.

Edward Dean Adams, 65, of rural North Bend faces a minimum of 20 years to life in prison for killing Jani Donnell on June 26.

In November he had pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder.

Adams also pleaded no contest to charges of attempted first-degree assault and of using a gun to commit a felony. Three other charges were dropped.

“I think it’s fairly likely that (Adams) will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Dodge County Attorney Paul Vaughan said Wednesday.

“I don’t think there ever was a romantic relationship” between Donnell and Adams, Vaughan said, “and I don’t think she ever responded to his plea to talk with him. That’s what I think made him feel she rejected him.”

After shooting Donnell, authorities said, Adams went to his estranged wife’s home and tried to shoot her and a man there.

The man knocked the gun from Adams’ hand and subdued him until officers arrived.