BUFFALO, N.Y. — An Amherst man has pleaded guilty to killing his estranged girlfriend last year.
Kirk F. Bielanin, 55, pleaded guilty in Erie County Court to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree.
The Erie County District Attorney's office says sometime between the evening of May 30, 2022 and the early morning of May 31, 2022, Bielanin stabbed Diane Bird, 60, once in the chest inside her Glen Oak Drive home in the Town of Amherst.
Bielanin had previously lived in the home, but when the crime occurred, he was living with a family member in the Village of Depew.
When Bird did not appear to work on May 31, 2022, a co-worker went to check on her and found her body near the front door and called 911.
Police found Bielanin in an upstairs bedroom. He was taken to ECMC for a stab wound to his chest and a cut to his left wrist.
Bielanin faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced January 3, 2024. He continues to be held without bail.
