Another trial date was set this morning in the frequently delayed case of Patrick Carmody, the man accused of killing 21-year-old Chance LeCroy five years ago.
Carmody, one of three men indicted in the September 2010 Hixson slaying, faces charges of felony murder and especially aggravated robbery.
He will stand trial January 19.
Prosecutors say Carmody, 46, was one of two men who shot LeCroy during a robbery at his 1211 Johnston Terrace home.
Ronald Lee Pittman, who testified in 2012, said he held a gun to LeCroy's roommate's head while Carmody and Pittman each shot LeCroy one time.
Pittman, 45, told investigators that he and a third man, Billy Bob Partin, 42, wanted to rob LeCroy's home, hoping to find flat screen TVs and drugs.
Partin accepted a plea deal in June 2014 and will serve 20 years in prison without chance of parole.
Pittman, who also appeared in Judge Barry Steelman's Hamilton County Criminal courtroom Wednesday morning, faces facilitation of felony murder and especially aggravated robbery charges.
Pittman remains on house arrest, said Ben McGowan, his lawyer, and left court after Steelman ordered him to return December 14 for a pretrial conference.
Carmody, on the other hand, walked into the courtroom wearing a red jumpsuit and orange slippers.
Since 2010, his case has been postponed more than three times, to the dismay of LeCroy's family, who watched quietly from the benches.
They could not be reached afterwards for comment.
Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston was also present for the hearing. He spoke with judge Steelman before Carmody was led into view, but offered no comment on the ongoing case.
During the hearing Steelman asked Carmody's lawyer, Lee Ortwein, if he had located Ashley Birdwell, a missing witness.
"We're still looking judge," Ortwein said.
Ortwein has said he believes Birdwell's testimony could exonerate Carmody, but she was missing during the June trial, prompting Steelman to bump the hearing.
On Wednesday, Birdwell was still absent.
Ortwein said he enlisted a Kentucky investigator to search some local addresses for Birdwell. But when the investigator arrived, she had already vanished.
Additional leads have yielded "nothing successful yet," Ortwein said. And come January, Carmody goes to trial - with or without Birdwell's testimony, he added.
Asked whether it would be possible to locate Birdwell by January 19, Ortwein sighed.
"It looks kind of doubtful at this point."