Suspected Cannibal Pleads Not Guilty

Jan. 11 -- The man accused of killing and cannibalizing a 10-year-old boy pleaded not guilty today to kidnapping and murder charges.

Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, 43, was charged last month with kidnapping and murder in the 1996 disappearance of Zachary Ramsay. The child disappeared on February 6, 1996, apparently on his way to school. He has not been seen since.

Bar-Jonah entered his pleas during a five-minute,closed-circuit television appearance with his attorneys from theCascade County jail. Dressed in short-sleeved orange jail coveralls, Bar-Jonah sat at a table facing the camera, his hands folded in front of him, quietly answering questions from District Judge Thomas McKittrick.

McKittrick ordered Bar-Jonah to remain jailed on $500,000 bond and set a tentative trial date of June 4.

Bar-Jonah's court-appointed lawyers, Don Vernay of Kalispell andGreg Jackson of Helena, did not talk with reporters following thehearing. They have characterized the case against theirclient as flimsy.

If convicted of either charge, Bar-Jonah could face the death penalty. Prosecutors have not decided whether they will seek death.

Stun Guns, Badges and 'Little Boy Stew'

Some witnesses have told police they saw Bar-Jonah near Ramsay or at least standing along the normal route the child walked to school.

Ramsay never showed up at school that morning. Police were stumped by his case until Bar-Jonah was arrested in Dec. 1999 for allegedly impersonating a police officer while walking by an elementary school. (In his previous assaults in Massachusetts, Bar-Jonah had dressed as a police officer to lure boys into his car.) On the day of his arrest, police searched his home and found 28 boxes of potential evidence that they say appear to link him to Ramsay's disappearance.

According to court documents, investigators found several pictures of young boys, two yearbooks from a local elementary school, stun guns, knives, batons, blue police-style coat, police badges and patches and a toy chrome pistol in Bar-Jonah's home. They found a list of names, including Ramsay, young relatives and children of friends. (All except Ramsay are alive and accounted for.)