IZARD COUNTY, Ark. – An Oregon man was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Izard County after confessing and pleading guilty to the 2004 killing of a 22-year-old Arkansas woman.

William Alma Miller, 45, pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge in the death of Rebekah Gould, a University of Arkansas student.

On September 27, 2004, Gould was found dead off Highway 9 in Izard County. The week before she was found, Gould had come home from college to visit her boyfriend. Police ruled out her boyfriend as a suspect and no one was held responsible for her death for years.

According to court records, Miller confessed during a 2020 interview to striking Gould several times and killing her with a piano leg.

The court records stated Miller told investigators that he killed Gould after she let him into where she was staying to “use the phone.”

Miller has been in the Izard County Detention Center without bond since December 2020. He was scheduled for a jury trial Oct. 31, but he waived his right to a jury trial circuit court Tuesday morning.