A 63-year-old man has been indicted in the 2017 stabbing death of his girlfriend in Birmingham’s Druid Hills.

A Jefferson County grand jury indicted Timothy Eric Stone on charges of murder in the death of 57-year-old Vergil Angela “Jill” Cook, a beloved mother and grandmother, according to court records made public Thursday.

Stone was initially arrested for the crimes last year, seven years after Cook was killed. Police at that time said a witness reached out to Birmingham police, saying he could no longer keep the information to himself.

The grand jury also indicted Stone on unrelated charges of kidnapping and robbery involving a separate victim that happened in June 2024.

Stone has been held in the Jefferson County Jail since his July 2024 arrest.

Cook’s body was found about 11 p.m. Friday, July 21, 2017, in the 1300 block of 21st Street North. Police said she had been stabbed, and it appeared that she had been dead for several days.

Family members made the discovery after not being able to reach Cook.

YiKoia Cook previously told AL.com she called her mom on Wednesday, July 19, and she never called back. She was concerned, so she called her grandmother, who also called Cook and got no answer.

“I got a call Friday night around 11 p.m. … They got the police to come, but you know, police are not allowed to kick in the door with no answer,” YiKoia Cook said. “I immediately got on the freeway and drove straight to my mom’s house and kicked in the door myself.”

There, she discovered her mother’s body. Initially police said it appeared that the death was a result of natural causes, but investigators later determined she had been stabbed.

Stone had been a suspect from the start, police said, but there was not enough evidence to charge him.

Homicide Det. Jonathan Ross said the witness reached out to him last year and provided enough information to obtain the warrants.

Cook was a 1978 graduate of A.H. Parker High School. She attended the Birmingham Paramedic School and later the University of Alabama School of Nursing, according to her obituary.

At the time of her death, she worked as a cashier at Birmingham Southern College.

“Jill was a vibrant young woman, full of life,” her obituary read. “When she entered the room it was like bright lights.”

One of Cook’s children, Don Johnson, previously told AL.com that Cook loved to decorate, blog and read books. She loved her dog and her grandchildren.

“She was very outgoing, very humble, very down-to-earth,” Johnson said in 2017. “Whether you’re white, black; no matter your religion or political views, she was just a welcoming person.”

Just two years before her slaying, Cook’s brother, Otis Tyrone Cook, had been murdered in front of her. He was 62 at the time, and police said he was shot by his neighbor during a dispute over his niece playing in that neighbor’s yard.

A trial date for Stone has not yet been set.