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Iowa man pleads not guilty in Sioux City slaying

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November 19th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the killing of a man whose body was found in South Dakota.  Martin Castellanos entered a written plea Monday in Woodbury County District Court. No trial date has been set. The 20-year-old Castellanos is accused of fatally shooting 20-year-old Adrian Rojas-Hernandez in October in Sioux City.

Hernandez’s partially burned body was found later in a ditch alongside a gravel road across the state border in South Dakota. A manhunt followed and Castellanos was arrested a few days later.

Another man, 22-year-old Ricardo Vital, of Sioux City, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accessory after the fact. Investigators say he drove a car used to move Hernandez’s body, and helped clean up evidence.