Jesse Matthew, who was charged with killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, on Wednesday ceded that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him of abduction, sexual assault and attempted murder in a different, decade-old crime, a Virginia prosecutor said.

In a Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom, Matthew entered an Alford plea in connection with the 2005 case, which means he does not admit to a criminal act but acknowledges the prosecution has enough evidence to win the case.

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh said he considers Matthew’s action equal to a guilty plea. Morrogh said the prosecution couldn’t have stopped Matthew from entering an Alford plea and no deal was made with the defense to secure a lesser punishment.

“The defendant pled guilty to all of the charges, which means he faces the full range of punishment,” he said.

In November, Matthew pleaded not guilty to the three charges tied to the September 24, 2005, incident in Fairfax, a city 20 miles west of Washington. The indictment claimed that he”did feloniously, willfully, deliberately, intentionally and with premeditation attempt to kill (the victim) in the commission of or subsequent to an abduction with the intent to defile.”

Authorities say a 26-year-old woman there was returning from a grocery store when someone grabbed her from behind and sexually assaulted her.

“We saw her purse on the front sidewalk,” said neighbor Stacey Simkins. “He had already dragged her behind our units to the dark pool area.”

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As investigators are determining whether a skull and bones discovered behind an abandoned Central Virginia home on Saturday are those of Hannah Graham, the lone suspect in her disappearance has been indicted in an assault from almost a decade ago — a case that police say forensically links him to another female college student who vanished from the same area as Graham.

Jesse Matthew was indicted by a grand jury in Fairfax, Virginia on Monday for the 2005 sexual assault on charges that also included attempted murder and abduction.

According to the indictment, Matthew, 32, “did feloniously, willfully, deliberately, intentionally and with premeditation attempt to kill (the victim) in the commission of or subsequent to an abduction with the intent to defile.”

The then-26-year-old victim in that attack was able to provide enough of a detailed description to yield a police sketch, one that years later would link Matthew to the case of Morgan Harrington, the Virginia Tech student who vanished in Charlottesville in October 2009.

Harrington was found dead the following January. Police at the time said “forensic evidence” linked the two cases.

Fairfax County prosecutor Ray Morrogh said Monday that he could not comment on how this investigation and indictment relates to the Harrington or Graham cases, but said “the facts and details will be revealed in the judicial process.”

Jim Camblos, Matthew’s Charlottesville attorney in the Graham case, declined to comment when reached by CNN on Monday.