HOUSTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review the case of a Houston-area man condemned for the rape and strangling of a 7-year-old neighborhood girl more than a decade ago.

Eric Nenno, 46, had asked the high court to review last summer's rejection of his appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He argued the silence of a polygraph examiner after he took the lie detector test improperly coerced him into making an incriminating statement that led to the discovery of the dead girl's body in the attic of his home in Hockley, about 30 miles northwest of Houston.

It was 13 years ago Sunday -- March 23, 1995 -- that Nicole Benton disappeared from her father's birthday celebration.

Nenno was questioned two days later. When police showed up at his house down the street from the Benton home, he appeared nervous when they asked about the girl. He agreed to go to a police command post that had been set up nearby and agreed to talk with authorities, who asked him what he thought happened to the girl. His response was that he thought she was abducted, raped and murdered.

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