Man Charged In 1972 Murder Of Naperville Teen Pleads Not Guilty

This Wednesday, June 2, 2021, photo provided by the Naperville Police Department in Naperville, Ill., shows Barry Lee Whelpley. Authorities say Whelpley, a 76-year-old Minnesota man, has been arrested in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old suburban Chicago girl nearly half a century ago. (Naperville Police Department via AP)

A man charged with the murder of a Naperville teen nearly 50 years ago is pleading not guilty. Barry Lee Whelpley entered the plea yesterday in Will County Court. He is accused of stabbing 15-year-old Julie Ann Hanson to death in July 1972. Her body was found the next day in a Naperville cornfield. Police say DNA evidence led to his arrest in Minnesota. He is being held at the Will County Jail on ten-million-dollars bail. Whelpley was 27 and lived within a mile of Hanson’s home at the time she was killed.