A 25-year-old man has pleaded guilty to the 2016 killing of an elderly Korean War veteran who was stabbed and then set on fire in his North Birmingham back yard.

Thomas Sims, who was 18 when 85-year-old Gene Emory “Mr. Gene” Dacus was murdered, entered his guilty plea this week before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Kechia Davis.

Sims initially was charged with capital murder.  He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of felony murder and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison and will receive credit for time served in the Jefferson County Jail where he has been held since 2016.

Sims was also ordered to obtain his GED while he is in prison.

The killing happened on Aug. 17, 2016.

Birmingham police were called to Dacus’ 33rd Avenue North home about 12:30 a.m. that Wednesday after receiving calls about a person on fire. When they arrived on the scene, they found him burned in the back of his home.

Witnesses told police they saw a fire in the yard before seeing a man running down a nearby alley with a red gasoline jug.

Police arrested Sims a short distance from the crime scene. He admitted to burning Dacus and witnesses had seen him in the victim’s stolen vehicle.

He had been arrested just seven months before that when he was in possession of a 2013 Toyota RAV that had been stolen during a Jan. 14 carjacking. The victim in that case had been hit with a gun.

Just hours after Dacus was killed, friends, neighbors and his son spoke with AL.com. “He was the most kindhearted gentleman you ever met,’’ said Gary Dacus. “He never met a stranger, and he helped anybody he could.”