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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A young man has admitted killing an Alabama woman and accepted a plea deal that requires him to spend 51 years in prison.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Valentino Vasquez Miranda, a 20-year-old Mexican who is in the U.S. illegally and does not speak English, signed the deal Thursday and is awaiting a judge's approval.
Miranda was working at a Knoxville Days Inn in September 2008 when guest Jennifer Hampton of Waterloo, Ala., disappeared. Police believe Miranda used a master key to enter the room.
The 21-year-old former homecoming queen was raped and strangled and her nude body was found in a lake several days later.
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