The suspect in the 2019 murder of a southeast Mississippi woman pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced to 40 years in jail.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Scotty McCarty pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of  37-year-old Emalee Luvenea Walters of Eatonville.

McCarty was sentenced to 40 years in prison by Forrest County Circuit Court Judge Robert Helfrich shortly after entering his guilty plea.

McCarty was identified as a suspect after Walters was reported missing on Aug. 14, 2019.

McCarty had originally denied any knowledge of the Walters and the events surrounding her disappearance.

In 2020, Forrest County and Perry County District Attorney’s Investigators continued to develop leads in the case, re-interviewed witnesses, including McCarty, who was at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County serving time on a burglary charge.

During an interview in jail, McCarty reportedly admitted to killing Walters at his home on McPhail Road in Forrest County. McCarty also told investigators the remains that were found in a wooded area in Covington County did belong to Walters.