Suspect pleads not guilty in 1985 Chicago-area cold case

WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — A central Illinois man held in the 1985 stabbing death of a teenager who'd left her suburban Chicago home to buy candy has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

The family of Kristy Wesselman was watching Tuesday as 62-year-old Michael Jones of Champaign entered his plea in the murder of the 15-year-old. State's Attorney Robert Berlin says a grand jury indicted Jones on eight counts of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault.

The teen's body was found in a field she used as a shortcut to a grocery store from her home in unincorporated Glen Ellyn. The case went cold years ago.

Jones was linked to the crime through a DNA sample given after pleading guilty this summer to aggravated domestic battery in Champaign County.