Ex-Marine Reservist Pleads Not Guilty to Murder

A Providence, Rhode Island, man accused in the strangulation death of a 24-year-old mother of three in her apartment has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Daniel Tejeda met 24-year-old Ashley Masi in March through an ad posted on an online classifieds site. They say Tejeda strangled the woman after she told him she did not have a car to loan him. Police found Masi's body in her third-floor apartment on March 31.

Tejeda was indicted in July. He denied the first-degree murder charge on Monday.

The former Marine reservist was sentenced to ten months in prison in July for violating the terms of his conditional release after he received a three-year sentence in 2008 for bank robbery and identity theft.

He is due back in court on Nov. 5.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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