Life, no parole for man in 5-year-old girl's rape, murder

DETROIT - A Detroit man convicted in the abduction and slaying of his girlfriend's 5-year-old niece has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A jury in December found 23-year-old Darnell Cheatham guilty of first-degree felony murder, arson and child abuse in the July 2011 death of Mariah Smith. Wayne County Circuit Judge Ulysses Boykin on Tuesday gave him the mandatory sentence under Michigan law.

Authorities say Cheatham took Mariah from her east side home, then raped and strangled her. They say he set her body on fire on a mattress in a vacant house about a mile from her home.

Full story: WJFW

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