Man pleads not guilty in Louisiana stripper death

GRETNA, Louisiana - A 42-year-old man has pleaded not guilty in the death and dismemberment of a stripper in New Orleans' French Quarter.

A Jefferson Parish grand jury indicted Terry Speaks and his girlfriend, 30-year-old Margaret Sanchez, in August on charges of second-degree murder in the stripper's death, as well as counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruction justice. Speaks also is charged with failure to register as a sex offender.

Officials say 22-year-old Jaren Lockhart was stabbed in the back on June 6, 2012, and her body was cut into pieces and discarded in the Mississippi Sound. Parts of her body drifted onto Bay St. Louis beaches.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports that on Monday, Speaks also met for the first time his court-appointed attorney.

Speaks and Sanchez are due back in court Nov. 17.