DENVER -- A man who has been tried three times for allegedly killing a Wheat Ridge woman has pled guilty to second- degree murder.

Kay Bodway, 46, was stabbed to death in her garage on July 2, 1996.

Bodway's murder had been unsolved until August 2001, when Michael Joseph Muniz, 42, was arrested.

Muniz, who did not know Bodway, followed her home from the Target located at the Lakeside Mall, according to prosecutors.

Muniz called police in July 2001 and said that he had stabbed and killed a woman in August 1996. Muniz told the dispatch operator, "Just to let you know, I'm back." Police later traced him to a Denver hotel room.

Muniz's first trial began in August 2002. This trial resulted in a deadlocked jury and mistrial. The case was tried again in October 2002.

In October 2002 the jury convicted Muniz of second- degree murder and two violent crime counts.

Muniz was sentenced to 48 years in prison. However, the second-degree murder conviction was overturned on appeal last year.

A month away from his third trial, Muniz pleaded guilty to killing Bodway. He also pled guilty to attempted kidnapping with a deadly weapon for stabbing a 51-year-old woman in Denver. The woman was stabbed outside her home near Cherry Creek Mall the same day Bodway was killed.

Muniz faces a minimum of 73 and possibly up to 84 years in prison.