BEMIDJI — A Red Lake man has pleaded guilty to beating and strangling his wife and leaving her on the side of a road in northern Minnesota.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Jeremiah Kingbird, 39, entered the plea to second-degree murder in federal court in Bemidji Tuesday. Authorities said Kingbird and his wife, who was not identified, were driving to their home in Ponemah last January after a night of drinking when they began to argue and got into a physical fight.

Prosecutors said Kingbird beat his wife in the head and strangled her before leaving her on a road in Redby. The victim was found hours later and died at the hospital in Red Lake.