Sixteen years after her body was found in a ravine, an arrest has been made in the murder of Rebekah Christian Gould in Izard County.The Izard County Sheriff’s Office (ICSO) announced the arrest of an Oregon man on Monday morning. Forty-four-year-old William Alama Miller is being held on charges of first-degree murder after his arrest by an Arkansas State Police (ASP) special agent in Lane County, Oregon.
According to a news release via social media, Miller is a resident of Cottage Grove, Oregon, and was taken into custody on Saturday night, after authorities learned Miller had returned home after an extended stay in the Philippines. He is jailed in Eugene, Oregon, pending an extradition hearing.
Gould was killed in September of 2004 in Izard County. Her body was found down a steep embankment off State Highway 9 near Melbourne, a week after she was last seen alive at a convenience store in Izard County. The 22-year-old Mountain View woman was reported missing by her family, leading to a community-based search across Melbourne and much of Izard County, according to the ICSO.
Authorities say Miller was a Texas resident in 2004 when the murder occurred and was visiting Izard County at the time. No further details involving Miller’s connection to the crime were announced.
“Izard County authorities handed off the criminal investigation of the case to the Arkansas State Police while the search was underway, where Criminal Investigation Division agents have devoted hundreds of hours to the case, which was never classified as a cold case,” the release says.
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