A northern New Jersey man has pleaded not guilty to fatally stabbing his girlfriend then using a plastic bag to smother her five-year-old daughter.

Michael Brady (Bergen County Prosecutor's Office)
Michael Brady (Bergen County Prosecutor's Office)
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Thirty-four-year-old Michael Brady of Teaneck entered his plea Thursday in state Superior Court in Hackensack.

Brady was charged Wednesday with murder, hindering apprehension and weapons charges. He was arrested a day after the bodies of Tam Marie "Tammy" Pitts-Gaddy and her daughter, Natasia Gaddy, were found in their apartment in Englewood, just outside New York City.

Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli says Brady and Pitts-Gaddy had dated for the last three years and lived together at times during their relationship. He says the slayings occurred after the couple apparently had a violent argument.

A judge declined Thursday to reduce Brady's $2 million bail.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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