Dad pleads not guilty to fatal child abuse

CENTENNIAL (AP) - The father of a young girl who is missing and feared dead has pleaded not guilty to fatal child abuse and other charges.

Aaron Thompson of the Denver suburb of Aurora entered his plea Wednesday.

Thompson reported his daughter Aarone missing in November 2005, when she would have been 6. Police say she may have died as early as 2003. Her body has never been found.

Prosecutors say Aarone was undernourished and was beaten and locked in a closet for hours as punishment for wetting herself. An indictment alleges Thompson and his girlfriend, Shely Lowe, concealed her death for two years.

Lowe died in 2006 from heart problems.

Thompson is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond. He faces up to 54 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Thompson's trial is set for November 3, with a pretrial hearing scheduled for October 24.