A preliminary hearing for an Arkansas City man accused of murdering a member of a college dance team is scheduled to begin May 30 in Cowley County District Court in Winfield.
The hearing for Justin Thurber, 23, is expected to last three days, according to the Cowley County Attorney’s Office.
In addition to a capital murder charge, Thurber is accused of kidnapping, raping and sodomizing 19-year-old Jodi Sanderholm, also of Ark City.
She disappeared in Ark City on Jan. 5 after she left practice with the Cowley College Tigerette Danceline. Her body was found four days later in a remote area of Cowley County. Her car was pulled from the Cowley State Fishing Lake on U.S. 166 east of Ark City the same day her body was discovered.
A preliminary hearing is available to a person charged with a felony to determine if there is enough evidence to hold the defendant for trial. Every defendant enters a trial presumed to be innocent.
The prosecutor’s office has subpoenaed approximately 24 witnesses for the preliminary; many of them law enforcement officers involved in the four-day search for Sanderholm.
Thurber is being defended by Timothey Friedman of the death penalty defense unit with the State Board of Indigent Defense Services. A spokeswoman in his office declined to say how many witnesses Friedman plans to call during the preliminary hearing.
Thurber is being held on $1 million bond.
Cowley County District Judge Jim Pringle is to preside over the hearing.
