Man pleads not guilty to slaying in Mason City

MASON CITY (AP) ? A 37-year-old man has pleaded not guilty in the 1994 slaying of a Mason City toddler.

Michael Cisneros, formerly of Mason City, made the plea Monday in a written arraignment, the Mason City Globe Gazette reported.

Cisneros is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-month-old John Joseph Snyder Jr. His father put the boy to bed the night of July 19, 1994, and found him missing from their apartment the next morning.

The toddler?s body was found July 21, snagged on a tree in nearby Willow Creek. An autopsy showed he died of drowning and a skull injury.

Authorities said they?ve matched Cisneros? DNA to a sample taken from the toddler?s pajama bottoms.

A DNA analysis of the evidence collected in 1994 was not available at the time because of limited technology. DNA results were later obtained in 2002 and became a part of the case file.

Cisneros was a person of interest in the case. His DNA was collected after he was transported to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in December. State law required the sample be collected, and the DNA matched evidence on the pajama bottoms, police said.

No trial date has been set.

His family has released a statement expressing ?our deepest and sincere sympathies? to Snyder?s family and asked the public to allow ?the justice system to run its course and render its judgment.?