GOULD, Ark. — According to the Arkansas State Police, a 48-year-old inmate at a maximum security prison has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1991 death of a Huntsville woman.
Rick Headley, an inmate at the Varner Maximum Security Unit, was charged by state police on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to murdering his wife in 2018.
Police say that in January 1991, 19-year-old Sabrina Underwood was dropped off by her mother near Bear Creek in Boone County where she planned to hitchhike to a prison in Calico Rock and visit an inmate.
Underwood was reported missing to the Madison County Sheriff's Office.
Three months later in April 1991, ASP says a hunter found items belonging to Underwood near the Gum Springs Cemetery in Fulton County, where authorities found human remains nearby, and Underwood was later identified as the victim.
Headley allegedly lived in Mountain Home in 1991 and admitted to killing Underwood to a fellow Varner inmate. In July 2022, ASP investigators learned of the admission and during an interview with Headley, he reportedly "gave details of the crime" to investigators.
Headley's next court appearance is set for Nov. 13, 2023, in Fulton County Circuit Court.
5NEWS will update this article with more information as it becomes available.