Michael Roarty-Nugent appeared in court Monday morning on a murder charge for the death of his girlfriend, Breneisha Lightfoot, a Bedford woman reported missing last week and later found dead.
Lightfoot's family reached out to police on July 18, concerned because they had not heard from her, and it was unusual as her birthday was Wednesday, police said.
Officers went to her home for a welfare check, where they found "evidence indicating someone may have been seriously injured there," police said. Lightfoot's phone was later found in the yard of a home in Cleveland; it's unclear how it got there.
Roarty-Nugent was identified as a person of interest in Lightfoot's disappearance. Police arrested him on July 21. Lightfoot's body was found later that day in Slavic Village.
Roarty-Nugent is currently being held in jail in lieu of a $2 million bond after pleading not guilty to murder.
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