A Dorchester man yesterday admitted to strangling his wife to death during an argument in the room they shared in a Bicknell Street rooming house, accepting a lengthy prison sentence rather than face trial, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

ROGER PARON, Jr. (D.O.B. 4/30/59), pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the Sept. 4, 2010, slaying of 39-year-old Victoria Paron. At the request of Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, Judge Regina Quinlan sentenced him to a term of 15 to 18 years in state prison. Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Deakin would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that the victim and defendant had argued violently on the morning of her death. In the course of that argument, the defendant said in a subsequent statement, Victoria Paron pushed him into a mirrored door, breaking it.

The evidence would have shown that Roger Paron strangled Victoria Paron to death, later placing a pillow under her head and covering her body with a blanket. In subsequent statements to Boston Police homicide detectives, Paron would say that his wife had threatened him during their fight with a knife recovered at the scene, causing minor injuries they observed on his hands, and that he had attempted CPR after strangling her.

In the hours following Victoria Paron’s death, Roger Paron used a pay phone call a family member on Cape Cod, where both he and the victim had lived for most of their lives. He made incriminating statements, the evidence would have shown, that led the family member to contact Barnstable Police, who in turn notified Boston Police.

The next morning, Paron used the same pay phone to call the same family member, who notified members of the Boston Police Fugitive and Apprehension Unit. Paron then called 911. Police found him at the pay phone, still talking to a 911 dispatcher. When asked where his wife was, he said that he had killed her.

Conley urged the victims of any crime, including domestic violence, to call 911 in an emergency. Victims of intimate partner violence – or friends and relatives who care for them – can also call SafeLink, the statewide domestic violence hotline, at 877-785-2020.

Katherine Moran was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Paron was represented by attorney Willie Davis.