The trial of Amanda Bach’s accused murderer, Dustin McCowan—scheduled to
begin Monday, Jan. 30—has been postponed by nearly eight months.
On Wednesday, Porter Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa granted the motion of
McCowan’s attorney, Bob Harper, for a delay and re-scheduled a new trial
date of Monday, Aug. 13, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Cheryl Polarek told the
Chesterton Tribune.
Alexa also re-scheduled the final pre-trial hearing for Friday, July 13.
Harper told Alexa that he needs the additional time to prepare his client’s
defense, Polarek said.
McCowan was charged on Sept. 19 with Bach’s murder, after her body was found
two days earlier 300 yards from his home on C.R. 625W in Union Township, in
some scrub and brush south of the Canadian National right-of-way. Bach had
been shot once in the throat.
McCowan told investigators that Bach left his home alive and well around
1:30 a.m. Sept. 16, not quite two hours before her abandoned car was found
in the parking lot of Dean’s General Store on Ind. 130.
On Nov. 16, Alexa denied McCowan’s motion for bail, saying that
investigators have demonstrated that McCowan had the opportunity to commit
the crime and that he could be guilty. Harper, for his part, had argued for
bond on the ground that investigators “jumped the gun” in focusing on
McCowan.
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