A man charged in a suspicious house fire in Phoenix and the death of a teenage girl has pleaded not guilty.
Tashawn Trevon Cheatham, 19, had his arraignment Thursday, Maricopa County prosecutors say.
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.
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, police say.
He’s also accused of stealing and trying to sell the family’s dog.
