Two men pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Tennessee court in the December death of Chicora native Caitlyn Kaufman.

James Edward Cowan, 28, and Devaunte Louis Hill, 20, each face a single count of first-degree murder in what investigators have previously called the road rage-related lethal shooting of Kaufman.

Kaufman, a 26-year-old nurse and Butler County Community College graduate, was shot and killed around 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 while she traveled to St. Thomas West Hospital, where she worked in the intensive care unit.Investigators said her car was struck by at least six bullets and its rear driver's side window was shot out.A medical examiner in Nashville said she was struck by a bullet once, in the shoulder, and she likely died just minutes after being shot.A police officer found Kaufman's Mazda SUV along a guardrail three hours after the shooting. Her body was in the driver's seat.Cowan and Hill pleaded not guilty during their video arraignments Thursday at Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County court before Judge Angelita Dalton.With bond denied, Hill and Cowan are being held indefinitely at the Davidson County Detention Center awaiting trial.Hill's attorney, Jason Chaffin, noted that the case still is in a very early stage, and because of this he declined to comment Thursday, noting that there isn't much to say at this point.Cowan's attorney, Ron Munkeboe, couldn't be reached for comment.Hill and Cowan's arraignments follow a grand jury indicting the two in May for “unlawfully, intentionally and with premeditation” shooting and killing Kaufman, a 2012 Butler Area High School graduate.In a January hearing in a Tennessee court, a witness and investigators said Kaufman's vehicle may have cut the defendants' car off in traffic as they traveled along Interstate 440 in Nashville.Hill, of East Nashville, was arrested Dec. 11 and initially implicated himself in the murder, according to authorities, but has since maintained his innocence.Cowan was arrested Jan. 12 about 12 miles southeast of Nashville, authorities said, where they discovered a “substantial” number of Xanax pills and fentanyl as well as $2,100 and at least one handgun.

Caitlyn Kaufman