GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla.  - The unemployed restaurant worker accused of sexually assaulting and killing 7-year-old Somer Thompson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Jarred Harrell entered the plea in a brief hearing Thursday morning. He is being held without bail. Somer's body was found in a Georgia landfill two days after she vanished walking home from school in October.

Authorities say Harrell lured Somer into his parents' home, where she was asphyxiated and tossed into a trash bin. Harrell was charged March 26 in Somer's slaying. He was already being held on child pornography charges in a separate case.