A 42-year-old man pleaded guilty to a 1997 murder in Suffolk Circuit Court on Wednesday.

The trial of Lonnie Bowers Jr. was set to begin Wednesday, but instead he decided to take a plea deal. A charge of first-degree murder was reduced to second-degree murder, and a charge of shoot, stab, cut or wound will not be prosecuted pending finalization of the plea agreement, prosecutor Will Jamerson said.

Bowers fatally shot Carl Shawn Turner, 21, at a party in the 100 block of Halifax Street on Sept. 28, 1997.

Exactly 12 years later, a grand jury indicted Bowers after members of the Suffolk Police Department’s Cold Case Squad were able to develop new leads and identify Bowers as a suspect.

Bowers had been on the Suffolk Police Department most-wanted list ever since and also was featured by numerous media, including the America’s Most Wanted website.

Acting on a tip, U.S. Marshals arrested Bowers in the Washington, D.C., area in December 2011.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 29.