A year after three children drowned in Tonto Creek, a White Mountains couple has pleaded not guilty to charges of child abuse and manslaughter.
A grand jury indicted Daniel Grant Rawlings on three counts of reckless manslaughter and seven counts of child abuse, while his wife, Lacey Lynn Rawlings was indicted on seven counts of child abuse.
On Nov. 29, 2019, Daniel reportedly drove a large military-style truck around a road closed barricade with Lacey and seven children aboard into a flooded Tonto Creek, killing two of their children and a niece.
Daniel, Lacey and four other children survived while Willa, 6, Colby, 5, and Austin, 5, drowned.