Tashawn Cheatham pleads not guilty in death of Phoenix teenager
Tashawn Cheatham
Photographer: Maricopa County Sheriff's Department
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 12/27/2012
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By: Associated Press
PHOENIX - A man charged in a suspicious house fire in Phoenix and the death of a teenage girl has pleaded not guilty.
Maricopa County prosecutors say 19-year-old Tashawn Trevon Cheatham had his arraignment Thursday.
Cheatham was booked into jail Dec. 7 on a $1 million bond on suspicion of first-degree murder, arson and theft.
Phoenix firefighters found 13-year-old Briana Naylor with burns on her arms and legs in a bedroom Dec. 6, hours after her mother had reported her as a runaway. The teen later died at a hospital.
Police say Cheatham told them Naylor had asked him to kill her and he allegedly wrapped a sheet around her neck before setting fires inside the home.
He's also accused of stealing and trying to sell the family's dog.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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