A Sharon man was arraigned in Mercer County Common Pleas Court Tuesday after being charged for with the killing and dismembering a transgender teen.

DaShawn Watkins, 29, is facing several charges including criminal homicide, murder of the first degree, abuse of a corpse, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, aggravated assault and tampering with evidence.

Investigators say Watkins had a sexual encounter with 14-year-old Pauly Likens and then killed the teen, discarding Likens' body in the Shenango River.

The forensic autopsy and other studies found Likens' cause of death to be sharp force trauma to the head.

The last known contact with Likens was made on the night of June 22 and Sharon police took the report of the disappearance on June 25.

Over the course of the next week, dismembered human remains were found in the area surrounding the Shenango River Reservoir.