OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he molested and murdered a 13-year-old Oakland girl nearly 40 years ago.

     

Curtis Tucker, now 63, entered the plea on Monday in the 1974 death of Julie McElhiney.

     

Tucker was arrested last month after authorities say his DNA matched DNA from the crime scene. Tucker's DNA profile was in a national database following his arrest in 1978 on suspicion of rape in Spokane, Wash.

     

Police believe Tucker came across McElhiney and attacked her while burglarizing a home. An autopsy showed she died of blunt-force trauma to the head and had been sexually assaulted.

     

Tucker is facing special circumstances that make him eligible for the death penalty.

      

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