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BOONE, N.C. – A 55-year-old man has been arrested and charged with a crime after confessing to a murder that occurred 17 years ago.

Detectives say the reason behind his confession is something they have never heard before.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Matthew Gibson drove to Arizona to meet with detectives and confess to the crime.

Gibson says he fled his home and traveled across the country to get to the police department in Arizona, where the crime was allegedly committed.

He even checked into a motel in Oklahoma but immediately left because he thought someone was following him.

Gibson told authorities he met a woman one night in 1997 and invited her back to his trailer.

Gibson told officers that he asked the woman to leave after she became loud and obnoxious.

When she refused, he admitted to bludgeoning her to death with a Maglite flashlight.

Gibson says he thought he could keep the crime a secret until he started to get voice mails and text messages from Walmart.

The messages from the store were alerting Anita Townshed that her prescription was ready.

He says he also received an envelope with a Walmart advertisement in it but it did not have a return address or name.

Gibson says he believes someone found out about the crime and had put “a contract on his head.”

According to the Observer, he says he believed the woman he killed must have been named Anita Townshed.

After being arrested for the crime, authorities learned the victim’s name was actually Barbara Agnew.

Click here for the full story from the Charlotte Observer.