CT man gets 55 years in prison in murder of woman. Her bound body was found in a state park.

A Waterbury man has been sentenced to 55 years in prison in the fatal 2020 stabbing of a woman whose body was found in a Watertown state park.

Miles Johnson, 25, received the lengthy prison sentence Wednesday in Waterbury Superior Court after a jury convicted him of murder and other charges following a trial in April, according to state Division of Criminal Justice officials.

Judicial officials said Johnson stabbed 33-year-old Rachel Lerato Sebetlela multiple times in the torso in her Waterbury home on July 10, 2020. Sebetlela’s headless body, wrapped in blankets and bags and bound by duct tape, was found by a hiker at Black Rock State Park in Watertown on Sept. 12, 2020, according to state officials.

Authorities had been searching for Sebetlela for months before her body was discovered; her loved ones had reported her missing when she stopped communicating with them. Police were able to identify the body found in the state park was Sebetlela using DNA.

According to the arrest warrant for Johnson, detectives from the Waterbury Police Department pinged Johnson’s phone through the area on the night Sebetlela was killed, finding that he was headed toward Watertown at about 2:50 a.m. before spending about 12 minutes in Black Rock State Park. He was then pinged heading back to Waterbury.

The GPS movements of Johnson’s phone were found after investigators determined the last call Sebetlela received was from a number connected to Johnson the night of her death. The call lasted about 22 seconds.

Following a jury trial, Johnson was convicted on April 20 on charges of murder, first-degree burglary, tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence.