Charges have been upgraded to first-degree murder against a teenager accused in the death of a 21-year-old Long Island mother whose body was found in the woods last month, authorities say.
Prosecutors say a Suffolk County grand jury indicted 19-year-old Dante Taylor on two counts of first-degree murder Tuesday in the death of Sarah Goode, a medical technician with a 4-year-old daughter who was found June 12 less than a mile from her Medford home.
Taylor was initially charged with second-degree murder in the case when he was returned to Long Island after his arrest in Florida little more than a week ago.
Prosecutors say Taylor was also indicted on a rape charge in a separate case. The district attorney did not say where the victim in that case lives.
Goode's sister Elizabeth DeMuria has said the young mother didn't know her accused attacker. Police have not said whether there is any connection between the two.
Goode went missing after leaving a friend's house. Her car was found abandoned near the woods where she would eventually be found.
Information on Taylor's attorney wasn't available. If convicted, he faces life without parole.
