FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- A former sergeant at Travis Air Force Base -- once declared the Air Force's No.1 fugitive -- who was charged in the 1994 slaying of his pregnant wife whose body was found in Marin County has pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge.

Saner Wonggoun pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Monday, 14 years after he dumped his wife's body in Marin County and fled to his native Thailand.

Wonggoun says he exploded over his wife's gambling debts and after discovering she was pregnant with another man's child.

Military prosecutors are now trying to prove the crime was murder.

Air Force Technical Sgt. Don Osborn says that under military law, prosecutors are seeking a conviction for unpremeditated murder as Wonggoun's court martial continues Tuesday. They have ruled out the death penalty.

Wonggoun, now 60, was born in Thailand and used his background to avoid arrest until 2006. There had been a $27,300 reward for his capture.

He fought extradition but finally was sent to the U.S. on Feb. 15, accompanied by federal marshals.

Linda Card, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Office of Investigations, said the 60-year-old suspect had an emotional reunion with his daughter at the air base before he was taken to Solano County Jail.