A pair of not-guilty pleas were entered this week in two unrelated murder cases in Northeast Alabama, one of them a capital murder case from a July slaying and the other going back to a cold-case killing from 1997.
In the most recent death, 32-year-old Valley Head, Ala., resident Daniel Adam Beaty — who faces a capital murder charge in the death of 33-year-old Daniel Thomas Fuller — pleaded not guilty during a hearing Tuesday at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Fort Payne, according to Bob Johnston, chief deputy district attorney for the 9th Judicial District.
Daniel Adam BeatyJohnston said the plea doesn’t affect the state’s approach to prosecution in the case.
Daniel Thomas FullerAuthorities say Beaty used a knife to kill Fuller, whose body was found by horseback riders on Aug. 31 near the Mule Day campground in Ider, Ala. The body had been there since July 21, authorities said during the initial investigation.
Fuller’s body was found in a wooded area on land DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris said belonged to Beaty’s grandmother. Harris described the area as being a “regular place people go drink and do drugs.”