A trial for the man charged with the murder of 39-year-old David Madison was pushed back until October.

Michael Francis McIntosh, 38, was charged Nov. 9, 2015 with second-degree intentional murder in the killing of Madison was killed over Halloween weekend and was found Nov. 1, 2015, in the Cedar River along Highway 105 south of Austin.

The defense requested for the trial to be pushed back and the request was granted late last week. There is a possibility it could be pushed back further, according to Jeremy Clinefelter, the prosecutor in the case with the Mower County Attorney’s Office.

Earlier, the prosecution had at least 63 items as evidence, including cell phones and several witnesses to examine before the trial starts. They were also working with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with the evidence.

The trial had been set for two weeks in late June in early July with the option for a third week.

This is the third time the trial has been pushed back.

The case

A medical examiner found Madison died of “non-accidental blunt head trauma and ligature strangulation,” according to court documents.

Madison and McIntosh were friends at one time, according to Sheriff Terese Amazi, but according to the court report had a tense relationship leading up to the incident. Deputies arrested himNov. 6. He appeared in court Nov. 9 for an initial appearance and is being held on unconditional $1 million bond or $500,000 bond with conditions, and faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison if convicted.

Madison and McIntosh had recent tension over a woman, and Madison told several people he feared McIntosh intended to harm him when released from jail Oct. 29, 2015.

Investigators found evidence leading to McIntosh including him buying a cleaning agent, garbage bags and paper towels. Investigators found a half-gallon bottle of bleach among small, red stains, tire irons and the handle of a hammer in a vehicle parked at McIntosh’s home, along with items found in the kitchen including cleaning supplies, bleach, and several blunt objects including a pipe-wrench, a hammer, a bed leg shaved to look like a club, and an expandable baton, which was bent, and a pair of jeans with a dark stain similar to a blood stain and a hat with caked with mud similar to the riverbank where Madison was found.

The court complaint described two other couples, along with McIntosh’s girlfriend, involved in the situation. Some of the other people involved reported hearing Madison breathing when they left the home where they reported finding him beaten badly. However, no emergency calls were made for aid and no attempts were made to take Madison to the hospital, according to the complaint.

On Nov. 5, 2015, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime scene team investigated the South Main Street home, finding more than 40 spots that tested presumptively for blood in the kitchen, back doorway and back steps. Over the course of Nov. 1 through Nov. 7, police taped off a home at the corner of Eighth Street Northeast and Third Avenue Northeast and the home at Fifth Avenue Northeast.