( CNN ) -- An indictment unsealed in Manhattan criminal court on Thursday formally charged suspect Conrado Juarez with the 1991 slaying of 4-year-old Anjelica Castillo , known for decades only as `` Baby Hope . '' Juarez , 52 , in an orange jumpsuit and a translator at his side , pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in the second degree . Assistant District Attorney Melissa Mourges read portions of a statement , unsealed in court , taken when Juarez allegedly confessed after his October arrest . The document said that Juarez `` admitted that he had sex with the victim and killed her by smothering her with a pillow , then packed her into the cooler and brought the cooler uptown and left it as previously described . '' Outside court , Juarez 's attorney Michael Croce called the alleged confession `` completely suspect , '' saying his client was interrogated for more than 13 hours . Croce said he was told a police translator helped facilitate the confession . `` That 's always problematic for me , '' he said , casting doubt on its `` veracity '' and `` accuracy . '' Last month , police said that Juarez -- 30 at the time -- visited a Queens apartment shared by seven of his relatives and saw Anjelica in the hallway . In 1991 , construction workers found the body of Anjelica -- who had not been reported missing -- bound and stuffed in a garbage bag . The bag was hidden under some soda cans inside a blue and white cooler . She had been smothered and sexually molested , police said . Her body was so decomposed that several sketches were made in attempts to capture what she looked like . The young victim became an emotional symbol for the NYPD and its unsolved cases . Two years after she was found , the girl was laid to rest in a donated plot . She was buried in a white dress bought by a detective 's wife , with a tombstone paid for by detectives to mark her grave . `` Because we care '' said an inscription at the bottom of the tombstone . Each year , on the anniversary of the July 23 , 1991 , discovery of her body , police canvassed nearby neighborhoods , handing out fliers and seeking leads in the case . An anonymous tip called in after the latest canvass in July helped crack the case , police said . It took detectives to Anjelica 's sister , now an adult . The lead helped them identify the woman believed to be the girl 's mother . Anjelica 's name was recently added to her tombstone , more than 20 years after her body was discovered . For parents of the missing , does hope spring eternal ?
Unsealed indictment formally charges alleged killer of girl known as `` Baby Hope '' Suspect Conrado Juarez pleads not guilty to charge of second-degree murder . Girl was killed in 1991 .