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Sex assault case dismissed following defendant's death
The Jonesboro Sun - 12/13/2017
JONESBORO - A child sex abuse case against a man who was scheduled to stand trial this week was dismissed Monday after he was found dead in Mississippi.
James Lee Haggenmacher, 45, was charged in 2015 with second-degree sexual assault involving a child under the age of 14.
Haggenmacher, a truck driver, slept with the child in a bunk bed on multiple occasions when he was in town, the victim told an investigator for the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children.
While sleeping together they didn't engage in sexual intercourse, the 12-year-old girl told police, but Haggenmacher touched her in intimate places.
Haggenmacher had been free on a $2,500 bond.
Court records show his trial was postponed eight times.
A police report from the Olive Branch Police Department in Mississippi said Haggenmacher's body was found Nov. 30 inside a tractor-trailer that was parked at a truck stop.
The report indicated Haggenmacher died of natural causes.