A registered sex offender has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman in northeast Arkansas, authorities said.
Harold Bennett was arrested Friday in the killing of 29-year-old Blytheville resident Bianca Rainer, according to a news release from the Blytheville Police Department.
Police chief Ross Thompson said utility workers found her body at 10 a.m. June 20 at her home in the 2000 block of West Cherry Street. Her body was taken to the state medical examiner's office, where coroners ruled her death a homicide.
An investigation led detectives to Bennett, a Level 4 sex offender who was wanted for violating parole, the release states. Ross said the 43-year-old had been convicted of sex crimes in Jonesboro and had failed to report himself as an offender when he moved from his listed address in Walnut Ridge.
During an interview, Bennett told authorities he assaulted Rainer and provided investigators with details of the assault that matched the crime lab's account, according to the release.
Bennett was being held Thursday at the Mississippi County jail, deputies said.
