Suspect in serial killings enters innocent plea

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The suspect in six killings of women in Louisiana pleaded innocent Wednesday to a murder charge in one of the slayings.

Derrick Todd Lee was ordered to stand trial on March 1 in the May 2002 beating, stabbing and rape of Charlotte Murray Pace, 22.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty and are asking State District Judge Richard Anderson to let them use evidence from four of the other slayings during the trial.

The slayings occurred between September 2001 and March of this year. Police say DNA evidence links Lee, from St. Francisville, to the six killings.

Lee did not speak in court, and his family refused comment after entering the plea.

The killing streak haunted women in Louisiana and sparked a massive manhunt.