CHARLOTTE — The man suspected of killing a pregnant Charlotte restaurant manager will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Mark Anthony Cox, 23, on Thursday agreed to the sentence rather than risk the death penalty for the January 2012 murders of Danielle Watson and her unborn child.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against Cox, a convicted felon who committed the slayings just two months after getting out of prison for robbery and breaking and entering. But Cox pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including first-degree murder and murder of an unborn child.

Police said Cox robbed and killed Watson as she closed the Flying Biscuit Cafe. Her body was found the next day behind a large trash bin at a shopping center.