Aaron Thompson pleaded not guilty Wednesday to multiple criminal counts, including those that accuse him of repeatedly abusing his children and causing the death of his daughter Aarone.
Thompson did not speak during his arraignment before Arapahoe County District Judge J. Mark Hannen.
He sat quietly next to his attorney, James O’Connor, while Hannen advised him of his rights.
O’Connor then entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Thompson to all 60 criminal counts returned by the Arapahoe County grand jury.
Among the charges Thompson faces are child abuse resulting in death; conspiracy to commit child abuse; accessory to a crime; false reporting to authorities; abuse of a corpse; concealing a death; and multiple counts of child abuse resulting in injury.
Aurora police have worked the case nonstop since Aarone, who would have then been 6 years old, was reported missing by her father on Nov. 14, 2005. At various times, Thompson and his common-law wife, Shelley Lowe, denied they had anything to do with the child’s disappearance. In May 2006, Lowe died of an apparent heart condition.
A year later, in May 2007, the Arapahoe County grand jury returned the indictment against Thompson.
According to the grand jury, Thompson repeatedly beat Aarone and shut her in a closet for hours — sometimes overnight — for wetting her bed.
On the night authorities believe she may have been killed, according to the indictment, Aarone had wet the bed and was taken to the basement of their Aurora home, where she got “whooped.”
The next day or the day after, the indictment said, Lowe told the children that Aarone had gone to live with her biological mother in Michigan.
Hannen set motions for Sept. 3; a pretrial hearing for Oct. 24; and trial for Nov. 3.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
