Cousins enter pleas in 1973 shotgun slayings of 2 girls

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2016 file photo provided by the Yuba County Sheriff's Department, is Larry Don Patterson. Patterson pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in Yuba County Superior Court, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 3016, for the 1973 slayings of Valerie Lane, 12, and Doris Derryberry, 13, in Yuba County, Calif. (Yuba County Sheriff's Dept via AP) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this 2011 booking file photo provided by the Yuba County Sheriff's Department is William Lloyd Harbour. Harbour pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree murder in Yuba County Superior Court, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 3016, for the 1973 slayings of Valerie Janice Lane, 12, and Doris Karen Derryberry, 13, in Yuba County, Calif. (Yuba County Sheriff's Department via AP) (The Associated Press)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Two men charged with murder in the 1973 shotgun slayings of two young girls in Northern California have entered pleas to murder charges in court.

The Yuba County deputy district attorney says Larry Don Patterson pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder Tuesday and his cousin, William Lloyd Harbour pleaded no contest to the same charges.

The two were charged in September with six counts each in the killings of 12-year-old Valerie Janice Lane and 13-year-old Doris Karen Derryberry in a long-stalled cold case.

The girls' mothers first reported them missing on Nov. 12, 1973, after they failed to return home overnight from a shopping trip to the mall.

Both men, both 65, face five years to life in prison, under sentencing laws at the time of the crime.