Shaquita Bell

WASHINGTON (AP) — A convicted felon has pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend, who went missing 12 years ago.
  
Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Dickerson pleaded guilty Thursday in Superior Court to second-degree murder in the 1996 death of 23-year-old Shaquita Bell.
  
Bell went missing days before she planned to testify against him in a June 1996 trial for assaulting her. Police suspected Dickerson of killing Bell and hiding her body in a wooded area in Prince George’s County, Md.
  
Dickerson was later convicted of the assault charge and is serving a 15-year sentence. He was also charged in connection with another 1996 killing after the body of Sean Thomas was found riddled with bullets in southeast Washington. Bell’s body hasn’t been found.