(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has denied a request for a new hearing by a man serving a life sentence for kidnapping a 9-year-old Norfolk girl.

David Phelps had sought a hearing to consider what he said was new evidence that could prove he did not kidnap Jill Cutshall in 1987.

Cutshall was never found, but a hunter found her clothes near Stanton. She later was legally declared dead.

Phelps’ public defender argued Phelps was entitled to a hearing to consider a diary that surfaced during the murder trial of John Oldson in the 1989 disappearance an Ord woman. Phelps says the diary seemed to document the abduction, rape and murder of four women or girls not far from Norfolk.