The suspect accused of killing the 4-year-old girl known for decades as "Baby Hope" changed his story four times when speaking to investigators, first saying he disposed of the girl's body to admitting that he sexually abused and smothered her. He eventually pleaded not guilty, and insisted that his confession was coerced. 

The suspect, a 52-year-old kitchen worker named Conrado Juarez, was arrested last month for killing the girl, who investigators recently found out was Anjelica Castillo. He was also the little girl's cousin, NBC New York confirms. 

Juarez's lawyer contested his client's admission. "This alleged confession is completely suspect," attorney Michael Croce said as Juarez pleaded not guilty to murder.

Juarez's lawyer said that the police's interrogation of Juarez was "coercive," and questioned the reliability of the statements.  

Anjelica Castillo's corpse was found naked, folded and tied with rope in a cooler alongside a Manhattan highway in July 1991. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Melissa Mourges told a judge that there was semen found on the body. 

On the anniversary of her discovery, police canvassed neighborhoods and were finally able to find "Baby Hope's" mother, who had left Angelica and another daughter with their biological father. The father then brought them to his relatives' house. Juarez, his cousin, was staying in the same apartment with Anjelica and her sister, authorities said. 

Once Juarez was finally pinned by police, he first told detectives he helped his sister dispose of the cooler, and that he was unaware that she was inside. Then Juarez changed his story, saying he found Anjelica dead on the floor. He said they then packed her body in a cooler, piled soda cans on top to try to conceal the corpse and dropped it by the highway. 

Later, Juarez said he sexually abused the child when he was drunk, but said that was unrelated to her death. 

"Finally, he admitted that he had sex with the victim and killed her by smothering her with a pillow," Mourges said.

However, Juarez told newspapers that the girl died accidentally and that he helped dispose of her body, and that detectives pressured him into saying that he murdered her. 

Juarez said the confession he gave after an all-night interrogation was coerced, according to New York Magazine. 

Police and prosecutors are confident that his confession to sexually abusing and killing the girl is true. Prosecutors are still waiting for DNA test results.