James William Tolbert graduated successfully from a court-ordered mental health treatment program 10 months before he killed a woman who tried to be his friend.

The parolee showed up regularly to meetings with his parole officer month after month, kept a job and raised no red flags among the experts trained to detect problems with the state's 15,000 offenders out on probation or parole.

Tolbert lived essentially within the bounds of society, and a division audit of the case showed Tolbert complied with the standards of his supervision.

But on Friday, Tolbert pleaded guilty to murdering Ann Poulson, 68, in her Murray home earlier this fall.

Her body was found on Oct. 9. "A belt had been wrapped around Ms. Poulson's neck," police wrote in documents filed with the criminal charges.

"You can't predict behavior. As much as we'd like to, we can't," said Tony Brown, an Adult Probation and Parole supervisor at Salt Lake City's Region III office.

"Tolbert was not a management issue," Brown said.

In the hallway of Poulson's home, police said, they found her purse with its contents spilled out. Her keys were not in her purse and her 2002 Honda Accord was missing from the garage.

At the time of her death, Poulson worked for the Deseret Morning News in the accounting department. Her death and the subsequent arrest of Tolbert shocked colleagues, friends and relatives who learned Poulson had met Tolbert in prison while conducting spiritual counseling for inmates. She then stayed in touch with Tolbert via e-mail and visits. The man met several neighbors and relatives when visiting Poulson's home.

A study of Corrections Department records and an audit of the case show no signs that officials should have been concerned about the parolee.

Tolbert was committed to prison on Feb. 27, 1989, for murdering his wife. After 18 years behind bars, he was paroled on April 11, 2006.

As part of his parole, Tolbert entered a mental health treatment program in Davis County. A review of records shows Tolbert's therapist first described Tolbert's presence as "hit or miss." But his supervising therapist later called Tolbert "an active member of therapy group,"

"He talked extensively about his crime and how his behavior has improved," the supervisor reported. Tolbert was allowed to graduate from the program,

Tolbert had gone for months with no trouble at all, and in fact his parole officer noted he would write to the board for permission to grant Tolbert an early release from parole supervision.