Not-Guilty Plea Entered In Boy's Reservation Death
BAY CITY (WWJ/AP) - A judge has entered a not guilty plea for a man at his arraignment in federal court in the death of a 4-year-old boy whose charred remains were found on a central Michigan Indian reservation.
Anthony Bennett, 20, stood mute Tuesday at his appearance in Bay City federal court. He remains jailed without bond, and his next court date is Nov. 27.
Bennett has been in custody on another charge since Carnel Chamberlain's remains were found June 28 at a home on the Saginaw Chippewa Indian reservation, about 70 miles north of Lansing. Bennett was living with Carnel and the boy's mother at the time of the boy's death.
Carnel was last seen alive on June 21 when his mother went to work and left him in Bennett's care. A weeklong search on the reservation ensued until the remains were found buried outside the home. Authorities say Carnel's body was so badly burned that authorities had trouble identifying it as human remains.
Bennett was subsequently charged with an earlier assault on the boy, a key step that kept him in custody while authorities developed the murder case against him.
A Nov. 7 grand jury indictment charged Bennett with first-degree murder, assaulting a child, assault with a dangerous weapon, animal cruelty and witness tampering.
The case is being handled in federal court since the crime occurred on an Indian reservation.
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