Man Pleads Guilty To 2014 Murder Of Simsbury Woman

SIMSBURY, CT — William Leverett, a suspect in the 2014 homicide of 54-year-old Simsbury mother Melissa Millan, has pleaded guilty to her murder, court records show.

Leverett pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Fox 61 reported. Records show he was arrested on Sept. 23, 2018, and charged with murder. He will be sentenced to prison in May.

Millan, an insurance executive, was found dead in Simsbury on Nov. 20, 2014. A driver found her body along a jogging and biking trail on Iron Horse Boulevard.

Her death was ruled a homicide two days later, and it remained unsolved for four years despite efforts from Simsbury investigators and a state cold case unit.

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• Melissa Millan, 54, Insurance Executive
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• Simsbury Murder Investigation Now Aided By Cold Case Unit

In September 2018, the Hartford Courant reported that Leverett had walked into the Simsbury Police Department headquarters and confessed to stabbing Millan in the chest.

He told police he "couldn't live with what he had done," the Courant reported, and he was arrested two days later after officers questioned him.

In interviews at the police headquarters, according to the Journal Inquirer, Leverett said he was on Iron Horse Boulevard the night of Millan's death when he spotted the woman and was physically attracted to her.

He told police "something compelled him that he couldn't explain" — he described being angry that she was "out of his league" and he couldn't "have her" — which led him to confront and attack her, according to the Journal Inquirer.

After Leverett was arrested in 2018, Millan's family released a statement thanking the Simsbury Police Department and other law enforcement agencies for their efforts.

Related:

• Family Of Simsbury Murder Victim Issues Statement
• Vigil Held Sunday For Melissa Millan, Killed Thursday In Simsbury

"The arrest and arraignment of the suspect brings renewed grief, heartache and the knowledge that justice can never be served for the senseless act that robbed us of Melissa's beautiful presence," the family wrote.

Leverett had moved to Connecticut after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Colorado in 2011, Fox 61 reported.