NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A prisoner on his deathbed confessed to a slaying he had gotten away with. But instead of dying, he recovers, and takes the story back.

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During the Fourth of July weekend in 1995, a woman was killed in an abandoned house and was discovered by firefighters. Joyce Goodner was beaten to death with a cinder block before being set on fire.

Two witnesses saw a car drive off, but there was still no arrest 14 years later. The abandoned house is still abandoned. The case seemed as cold as cold can get.

"I couldn't tell you nothing," said Sonya Kimbrell. "I couldn't tell you anything. I just want to know why."

Kimbrell was 11 when her mom was killed. She was in counseling for years.

"I didn't have any trust in the system, and all of a sudden, I just get this phone call, and they said, 'We think we found him,'" Kimbrell said.

The Nashville Cold Case Unit has arrested James Washington on a charge of murder in the death of Goodner. Washington was in jail for second-degree murder in a different case when he had a heart attack.

Kimbrell said detectives told her he apparently felt guilty, wanted to get right with God and confessed to the 1995 killing. However, he didn't die, and he tried to take back his confession when he recovered, detectives said.

Kimbrell said the Cold Case Unit has also put together an eyewitness with the truck Washington was driving.