WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The man charged with killing a Google employee from New York who went missing while out for a run near her mother’s Massachusetts home has pleaded not guilty.

Angelo Colon-Ortiz was held without bail after entering his plea to a murder charge Wednesday in the death last summer of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte.

During the brief appearance, he was allowed to remain out of sight at the request of his lawyer, who cited an “identification issue.”

Marcotte was visiting her mother in Princeton, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Boston, last August when she failed to return from a run. Her body was found hours later in a nearby wooded area.

The 31-year-old Colon-Ortiz, of Worcester, was arrested in April after prosecutors say his DNA matched samples from Marcotte’s body.

(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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