Teen pleads not guilty to killing Aurora woman

A 16-year-old boy pleaded not guilty Thursday in the 2005 execution-style slaying of an Aurora substance abuse counselor, authorities said.

Garang Deng is accused of four counts of first-degree murder and other offenses in the death of Marilyn Bethell. He will be tried as an adult in the 47-year-old's death.

Deng is due in court again Jan. 23 and is still being held in a juvenile detention facility, said Jody Gleason, an assistant Kane County state's attorney.

Prosecutors say Bethell was abducted on Halloween 2005 during a break-in at her home on Quail Court in the DuPage County slice of Aurora.

Her partially clothed body was found Dec. 26, 2005, near the Illinois Prairie Path east of Kirk Road in Kane County, dead from a bullet wound in the back of her head, prosecutors say.

Deng likely did not know Bethell but lived about a mile away, prosecutors have said. He was 15 when he was arrested, after a friend said he had talked about planning to burglarize Bethell's home.

Attorneys for Deng say the boy suffers from a traumatic childhood in war-torn Sudan and has not seen his father since he was 5.

If convicted, Deng faces 45 years in prison. His attorneys have pushed for boot camp-style punishment and counseling.