NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) - A 5-year-old girl whose body was found in a garbage can in Niagara Falls, N.Y., apparently was strangled.

Coroner Cindy-Lou Joyce says there was a "mechanical obstruction" of Isabella Tennant's airway and a compression of her neck.

Joyce won't say what was used to stop the girl from breathing but says it wasn't considered a "total strangulation."

She says there were other injuries but no sign of sexual abuse.

Police say 16-year-old John Freeman killed Isabella with his bare hands Sunday night while she was staying with her great-grandmother. They say Freeman enlisted 18-year-old Tyler Best to help dispose of the body in a garbage can a few blocks away, where it was found the next day.

Both teens pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.