Nathan Sloop appears in court

FARMINGTON, Utah (AP) - A man accused of beating a 4-year-old boy to death and burying him in a canyon is due in court for a pretrial hearing.

Nathanael Warren Sloop is scheduled to appear in court in Davis County Tuesday afternoon on aggravated murder charges. Prosecutors say Ethan Stacy was killed in May 2010 after days of abuse at an apartment that Sloop shared with the boy's mother.

Stephanie Sloop also faces charges in the death but is being tried separately.

Authorities say Nathanael Sloop beat the child to death and used a hammer to disfigure the boy's face so he wouldn't be identified. He was found buried in the northern Utah mountains.

Stephanie Sloop shared custody with the boy's biological father, who lived in Virginia.

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