EARLY, Iowa (AP) — A 21-year-old Iowa man has pleaded not guilty to charges of killing his mother and kidnapping another woman. The Sioux City Journal reports Kirk Levin submitted a written plea Monday. He faces charges of first-degree murder and third-degree kidnapping. Prosecutors say Levin repeatedly stabbed his mother, Marilyn Schmitt, at her farmhouse in Early on Jan. 3. They say he then kidnapped a 21-year-old woman who he tied up and put in the trunk of a car. The woman escaped after Levin drove into a ditch.

Levin had been released from prison days earlier after serving time for burglary charges. Gov. Terry Branstad’s spokesman has defended the state’s release of Levin.