MARIETTA — The killer of a former Marietta College professor who was in prison on sex charges pleaded guilty to the murder Wednesday in Fayette County, W.Va.

Timothy Parsons, 42, of Boone County, W.Va., was originally indicted in May on a first-degree murder charge for the death of Eugene Robert Anderson in January at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County.

Anderson, 66, was 13 years into his sentence for more than 130 charges relating to child pornography and prostitution in Washington and Wood counties. He had yet to begin serving time on the most recent conviction of sexual abuse of two minors, to which he pleaded guilty in December of 2015 in Kanawha Circuit Court and was sentenced to a minimum additional 60 years in prison after the first 180 years for the previous cases.

Formerly the director of information technology and an associate computer science professor at Marietta College, Anderson was first investigated in December of 2000 when substantial evidence led to search warrants for Anderson’s residence in West Virginia, his car and office at Marietta College, officials said.

Law enforcement seized computers and computer media containing more than 100,000 still images depicting children engaging in explicit sexual conduct, videos of the same and more than 8,000 chats between Anderson and both adult and juvenile males that showed Anderson was grooming further victims, officials said.

Anderson was convicted of 108 child pornography and prostitution charges in Washington County, 22 charges in Wood County in 2003 and another 20 charges in Kanawha County in 2015. He was sentenced to a cumulative 240 years in prison.

Parsons was serving two life sentences without a possibility of parole for killing his wife and mother-in-law and raping a 15-year-old girl after showing the child his wife and mother-in-law’s bodies in May 2012.

On Wednesday, Parsons pleaded guilty to one charge of second-degree murder and said in court that the reason he killed Anderson was because of a dispute over a Bible verse.

“He said they had gotten into an argument over a Bible verse and even though Parsons was only eighth-grade educated, he was right about the scripture,” said Fayette County Prosecutor Larry Harrah. “Apparently this upset Anderson, who thought as a (former) college professor he would know more than an eighth-grade level.”

According to Harrah, Parsons said in court Wednesday that Anderson “took a hit out on him” and was willing to pay someone to take Parsons’ life.

“So (Parsons) said he took matters into his own hands to get Anderson before he could get him,” said Harrah.

When Anderson was found dead in the recreational yard of the prison, authorities determined he was killed with a shiv.

“It was on video and he confessed to it so it was a pretty easy case,” said Harrah. “The judge could sentence him for any number of years between 10 and 40 and has the option to run his sentence concurrent or consecutively to the other life sentences.”

Harrah said before the plea agreement was finalized he tried to reach out to family of Anderson but could only find one relative.

“On every case I try to talk with the family about what we’re doing with a plea but the only person that ever visited (Anderson) in prison was one first-cousin,” said the prosecutor. “He didn’t have anyone that cared.”

Parsons’ sentencing on the new murder conviction will take place Sept. 7.

Mount Olive, West Virginia’s only maximum security facility, houses 1,100 inmates. It was immediately placed on lockdown after the stabbing in January but this wasn’t the first nor was it the last time an inmate lost their life in the facility.

On June 12, 2015, David Munday, 50, of Hedgesville, died after suffering some sort of “medical episode” after attacking a counselor.

On March 19, 2016, Russell L. Hager, 47 of Logan County, W.Va., died after being stabbed in the head and neck with a metal shank.

On April 5, 2017, Earl Parsons, 30, of Huntington, died in a fight near his cell.

“A prison is basically a small city and they get a hold of things,” said Paul Simmons, acting deputy commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections. “I’ve seen improvised homemade pieces of whatever, broom handles, any piece of metal, toothbrushes, spoons. And a level five facility is where you’re more prone to have violence because that’s the end of the line for security. It’s where the most violent offenders go.”

Mount Olive is built in a butterfly pod-style with an open recreation yard in the center with mirrored living and work quarters on the sides. The facility has one mess hall for the general population of inmates and those in segregation are fed meals in their cells.

“We end up having some offenders in there that may not be in for murder,” said Simmons. “But if you can’t behave in the lower levels that’s where you go.”

Simmons said he was surprised by the murder of Anderson.

“He’d been there for a long time,” he said. “But that’s prison.”