FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder in the stabbing death of her daughter's roommate in her college dormitory room.

Tina Morris, 36, agreed to plead guilty in the death of Liette "Lola" Martinez, 22, of Las Cruces, N.M., in return for prosecutors agreeing to a maximum prison sentence of 60 years and to drop charges of felony murder, robbery and auto theft, defense attorney Anthony Churchward said.

She had faced up to 88 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Morris, a mother of three grown children, wiped away tears during the hearing in Allen Superior Court.

Churchward had filed notice earlier of a possible insanity defense and in June a judge ordered her to undergo psychiatric examinations. Churchward said Morris agreed to the plea agreement because "it was in her best interests."

Churchward told Morris' father, Henry Brewer, outside the courtroom that Morris' decision to take Martinez's car and drive it to Indianapolis, where she used Martinez's credit cards, made the not guilty by insanity argument difficult to prove, The News-Sentinel reported.

Martinez, an exchange student from New Mexico State University, was found stabbed in her Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne dorm room on April 18. Morris had been staying in the dorm with her daughter, Martinez's roommate, during the two weeks leading up to the killing.

Authorities said that after stabbing Martinez, Morris took a pan of hot water off the kitchen table, threw it on Martinez and hit her in the face with the pan. Morris then continued to stab Martinez, according to court documents.

Morris will seek the minimum 45-year prison term when she appears before Judge Frances Gull on Sept. 19 for sentencing, Churchward said.