SUFFIELD, Conn. (WTNH) – In late September, George Legere was arrested for his alleged involvement in a 1973 murder case in Connecticut. Last week, he was found unresponsive in his cell and has since been pronounced dead.

The incident occurred at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, where staff discovered 77-year-old Legere unresponsive in his cell around 11 p.m. on Friday. They promptly started life-saving efforts before transferring him to a nearby hospital. Sadly, he was declared dead early Saturday morning.

The specific cause of Legere’s death remains unknown, as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is awaiting further study. Both the Connecticut Department of Correction and Connecticut State Police are delving into the incident.

Prior to his recent arrest on Sept. 24 for the murder of 21-year-old Janet Couture back in 1973, Legere was already serving a 25-year prison term for an unrelated cold case involving kidnapping and sexual assault. According to an arrest affidavit, Legere confessed to stabbing Couture in her East Hartford apartment while trying to procure money to feed a drug habit.

Legere reportedly told police, “I went into the apartment looking for money and unfortunately the person woke up and recognized me, leaving me no choice to do what I did. I ended up stabbing her.”

Authorities received a tip-off from another inmate, who revealed that Legere had admitted to the murder of Couture and had authored a signed confession back in July, advising the inmate to withhold the document until after his death.

Police said Legere was an early suspect in Couture’s killing, but there was not enough evidence to charge him back in the 1970s.

“It was just such a shock because it’s been so long, you know, and we’ve always wanted it resolved and to know who did it,” Couture’s sister, Shirline Couture, said in a phone interview with the Associated Press last month. “I feel bad because my parents died not knowing. That was my mom’s last wish before she died.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.