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Man accused of killing girlfriend & later holding couple hostage pleads not guilty to manslaughter charge

Aubrey Lumpkin initially arrested in April on charges that include home invasion & false imprisonment

Aubrey Lumpkin, 46, faces manslaughter charges.

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – A man accused of killing his girlfriend — and two years later, holding a married couple hostage in Green Cove Springs — was back in a Clay County courtroom on Monday.

Aubrey Lumpkin, 46, was initially arrested in April on charges that include home invasion and false imprisonment. Then, in June, prosecutors added a charge of manslaughter.

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Monday morning was Lumpkin’s arraignment on the manslaughter charge. He pleaded not guilty, according to Clay County court records.

Lumpkin is due back in court on Aug. 22 for a pretrial hearing on the manslaughter charge.

In April, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said, he tied up and duct-taped an elderly couple, holding them hostage for more than two days at a Green Cove Springs home. They were dehydrated and malnourished with injuries from being tied up for more than 48 hours, according to deputies.

Then, according to deputies, Lumpkin told them that “he had murdered someone.”

Several days later, deputies said, they found a woman’s remains in a wooded area near the property. Investigators have not identified the woman, citing privacy protections under Marsy’s Law.

But according to an arrest report, Lumpkin told detectives that two years earlier, he and his girlfriend got into an argument, and he hit her. When he saw she wasn’t breathing, he told investigators, he tried to resuscitate her but couldn’t, according to the report. The report said that instead of calling 911, he buried her and then took on her identity, sending messages to her family asking them to wire money.