This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A 46-year-old man accused of punching his neighbor in the face during an argument near the Utah-Arizona border, and then fatally shooting her after she fell to the ground, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder.

A plea bargain calls for Timothy Lee Smith to serve a federal prison term of at least 20 years and no more than 30 years. Sentencing by U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups is scheduled for Aug. 15.

In a written statement, Smith admitted he kicked 62-year-old Maranny "Marena" Hatalie Holiday twice on Nov. 30, 2015, while she was on the ground, and then retrieved a .22-caliber handgun from his house. The two had been in a long-running property dispute, according to prosecutors.

"I went back outside to find Maranny on the ground," Smith said in his statement. "I approached Maranny from behind and said, 'I promise you it will be fast.' I then shot Maranny one time in the head."

Smith said he tied a rope around Holiday's ankles, then tied the rope to his truck and dragged her body away to a hiding place.

The shooting took place on the Navajo reservation in San Juan County, just yards into Utah from the state's border with Arizona.

Smith's truck got stuck after he hid Holiday's body under a tree and he was spotted from the air three days later running through the desert a few miles northeast of Mexican Hat, according to San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge. Smith surrendered to deputies and police from the Navajo Nation who flew to his location in a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter.

Smith was indicted in January 2016 by a federal grand jury on charges of first-degree murder within Indian country and being a felon in possession of a firearm. A magistrate judge ruled he was a risk to the community and ordered him detained pending resolution of his case.

At a court hearing last year, defense attorney L. Clark Donaldson said that Holiday and other family members had repeatedly gone on land next to their property that Smith's wife had inherited. He said Holiday's husband had built a sweat lodge on the inherited land, which Smith took down.

Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC