William Alma Miller
The trial of the man accused of murdering Rebekah Gould in 2004 has been scheduled for 2022.
KAIT in Jonesboro reports William Alma Miller appeared in Izard County Circuit Court Wednesday with his attorneys and the trial was continued until Feb. 16-18.
Hearings are scheduled for Nov. 5 and Nov. 8 to discuss pending motions, including any motion to suppress evidence, while any motion dealing with witnesses must be filed by Dec. 31.
Miller was arrested in Oregon on Nov. 7, 2020, in connection with the 16-year-old murder.
Gould was last seen alive the morning of Sept. 20, 2004, in Melbourne. She had just dropped a friend off at work before stopping at a local convenience store. According to reports, the 22-year-old had gone that weekend to visit friends in Guion, a small town south of Melbourne on the White River, and later failed to return to her junior college in Fayetteville.
Officials said she “sustained significant bodily injuries which occurred at a residence in rural Izard County.” Her death was ruled a homicide.
Officials said in a probable cause affidavit that Miller went to a residence and hid his truck in a field behind the house.
“Mr. Miller then approached the McCullough residence and knocked on the front door. He advised that Rebekah Gould let him inside so he could use the phone. Mr. Miller advised that while he was pretending to use the phone, Ms. Gould went back to her bedroom to go to bed,” the affidavit says. “Mr. Miller advised that when Ms. Gould went back to her bedroom, he then retrieved a piano leg from a piano that was located in the living room. Mr. Miller advised that he then entered Ms. Gould’s bedroom where he began to strike her multiple times with the piano leg.”
The body was then wrapped in a blanket and Miller put it in the bed of the truck, authorities said.
From there, he reportedly dumped the body near a two-lane highway outside Melbourne.
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