A 20-year-old man has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a murder, after the fact, when he helped a parolee carry a gay man’s body inside a purple blanket-draped rock structure that was later planted in the backyard of an Alabama Street house in North Park.

Arlo Rene Elizarraraz also pleaded guilty to 47 other charges including conspiracy, burglary, forgery, grand theft, receiving stolen property and possession of a forged driver’s license. San Diego Superior Court John Thompson set sentencing for Jan. 21, 2010.

Elizarraraz pleaded guilty without an agreement with the District Attorney’s office. Deputy District Attorney Dino Paraskevopoulos said Elizarraraz could receive a maximum 39-year prison term. He remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility without bail.

Murder suspect Thomas Jeffrey Brooks, 40, is awaiting a preliminary hearing today, but it has been delayed many times.

Brooks tried to hang himself in jail on Sept. 21.

Brooks is accused of strangling Edward Andrews, 80, who disappeared in June, 2008. Andrews’ body was found encased inside a cement elliptical-shaped orb that was part of a rock garden in the backyard of a house on the 3400 block of Alabama Street on Sept. 5, 2008.

A leather belt was found around his neck, and chicken coop wire and plastic surrounded the body, and the knees were folded up to his chest.

Andrews was gay and he wrote Brooks as a “pen-pal” while Brooks was still in prison for child abuse and obtaining money under false pretenses. Andrews met Brooks after he was paroled in 2007. Court documents described Elizarraraz as Brooks’ “companion,” but Elizarraraz also dated a woman at the time.

Elizarraraz was interviewed repeatedly by many police agencies including an interview at his father’s house in Chula Vista. He submitted to a polygraph test and was told his test showed he was deceptive in some of his answers. He gave more details, according to court records.

Brooks admitted to police that he killed Andrews, but he insisted that Elizarraraz had nothing to do with the slaying. Elizarraraz eventually told investigators that he helped haul a plastic container containing the rock sculpture that was covered by a purple blanket with a dolly, but he continued to say he didn’t know it contained a body.

After Brooks was arrested on Aug. 2008, he was also charged with stealing $92,000 from Andrews’ bank account and credit cards. A special circumstance of murder for financial gain has been filed against Brooks, and he faces a life term in prison without parole if he’s convicted.

Elizarraraz admitted to meeting Brooks after he placed several ads on CraigsList, saying he was desperate for money. They met and became involved in check forgeries. Elizarraraz moved out of his father’s house and lived with Brooks for a short time.

Brooks did landscaping at the North Park house where the body was found. The roommates living there learned from media reports about the missing money and body, and one of them broke open the concrete orb. The occupant discovered a foot and a foul odor inside the cement orb, and called his two roommates, who came home to look at what he found. The roommates then called police.

Brooks is housed in the downtown San Diego central jail on $3 million bail.