LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Officials say an inmate apparently killed his ex-wife and buried her beneath his cell in Bolivia's largest prison — with nobody taking notice for nearly a year.

Chief prosecutor Gomer Padilla tells The Associated Press that the body was found after a fellow inmate confessed to helping bury Kenia Hidalgo Cespedes. The prosecutor says Marco Antonio Ramirez apparently failed to pay the conspirator an agreed-on $278 to keep silent.

Padilla says all evidence points to the body being that of Hidalgo, though it hasn't been formally confirmed.

Ramirez is imprisoned for killing another former girlfriend. His ex-wife apparently visited to discuss the sale of a jointly owned apartment.

Padilla says investigators are probing the responsibility of personnel at the Palmasola prison, which Pope Francis visited last year.