Dennis Michael Salerno pled not guilty today to the county’s charges that he tried to escape from the Wood County jail.

Salerno is being held in the jail until his July 9 trial for the murder of Larry McClannahan, a truck driver found stabbed to death last July. He is also a suspect in the murder of Michelle Rizzi Salerno, whose body was discovered buried on campus last week.

No one was ever in any danger from Salerno’s escape effort, which occurred April 4, according to Alan Mayberry, Wood County’s prosecuting attorney.

“He had made efforts to escape through a vent in a shower,” Mayberry said. The grate covering the vent had been unscrewed. According to Mayberry, in the state of Ohio, an attempt to escape from detention carries the same penalties as escaping.

If found guilty at his jury trial May 15, Salerno faces two to eight years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Bail was set at $200,000, which is in addition to his current bond of $1 million for aggrevated murder charges with no 10 percent.