The US man accused of kidnapping three women, holding them in his home for a decade and raping them has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Former school bus driver Ariel Castro appeared in court in Cleveland, Ohio, on an indictment charging him with murder, kidnapping and rape in more than 300 counts.
The murder charge involves his allegedly starving and punching a pregnant woman in captivity until she miscarried.
Castro, 52, is accused of snatching the three women and keeping them, along with a six-year-old girl he fathered with one of them.
Prosecutors say the investigation will continue and they are leaving the door open to pursuing a death penalty case.
News that the women had been found alive stunned the Cleveland area, where two of the victims were household names after years of searches, publicity and vigils. But elation soon turned to shock as allegations about their treatment began to emerge.
The indictment alleges Castro repeatedly restrained the women, sometimes chaining them to a pole in a basement, to a bedroom heater or inside a van. It says one of the women tried to escape and he assaulted her with a vacuum cord around her neck.
Later, he moved them to upstairs rooms where they were kept as virtual prisoners.