Guy Accused of Killing 7-Year-Old Enters His Plea

The man accused of kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old Kentucky girl has pleaded not guilty. Amy Gabriella Doolin's mother, Amy Doolin, sobbed and held her hand over her mouth as a judge read the charges against 38-year-old Timothy Madden of Scottsville, Kentucky, on Monday. Allen County District Judge Martha Blair Harrison's voice appeared to shake with emotion as she read the counts: murder, kidnapping, first-degree rape, and first-degree sodomy. Madden, who is being held on $1 million full cash bond, wore an orange jail jumpsuit and was bound at the hands and feet. His attorney, Travis Lock, said it was too early in the case to discuss any evidence.

A former construction worker, Madden was arrested on Friday, six days after Gabriella Doolin disappeared during a youth football game. She was found dead in a creek less than a half-hour later. Gabriella was at the game Nov. 14 to cheer on her brother. The arrest warrant said she died of manual strangulation and drowning. Linda King, Madden's mother-in-law, says Madden has five children of his own and is not capable of killing someone else's. King says her son-in-law was shooting video of the game and when he came home, "his clothes weren't messed up," she tells the AP. "They weren't wet." But a police citation states that Madden's DNA matches that collected from the child during autopsy. (More murder charges stories.)