A 73-year-old man serving life in prison in the 2009 shooting death of his neighbor has died in prison.

Samuel Harold Miles Jr. died New Year’s Day in the infirmary at William Donaldson Correctional Facility in western Jefferson County.

According to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, Miles was found unresponsive by medical staff in the prison infirmary where he was being housed for treatment of significant natural disease.

An autopsy carried out Tuesday found no evidence of trauma or foul play.

Miles was convicted of capital murder in 2011 in Madison County.

Miles told a 911 dispatcher in 2009 that he killed his neighbor – 49-year-old Linda Keller of Huntsville – because she implied he was “white trash” and was threatening his family, according to previous court testimony.

He later told a police officer Keller had sent the “white trash” message by using a white rag and a white trash bag to clean out her car about two weeks before the fatal shooting.

A former psychologist at Tuscaloosa’s Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility testified Miles had a long history of diagnosed mental problems including depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Miles is the first inmate in 2024 to die at the prison, which had 29 deaths in 2023 and 40 in 2022.