A preliminary hearing on a first-degree murder charge against Steven Kirtus Stricker was postponed Tuesday in Kingfisher County District Court at the request of the district attorney’s office.

Assistant District Attorney Micheal Oglesby said his office is still awaiting receipt of some state forensic reports and requested the hearing be rescheduled, over the objection of Stricker’s attorney, Jarrod Stevenson of Oklahoma City, who announced his client was ready to proceed.

Associate District Judge Lance Schneiter rescheduled the hearing for 9 a.m. Aug. 29 for the purpose of determining whether the state can present sufficient evidence to bind Stricker over for trial in the April death of his live-in girlfriend Brenda Baber, 56.

Stricker, 62, was charged in April with first-degree murder with deliberate intent and desecration of a human corpse for allegedly killing Baber before dismembering, burning and burying her remains in the backyard garden of their Kingfisher home.

Stricker allegedly told Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents in an April 5 interview that Baber died accidentally during an argument in the early morning hours of April 3.

The former restaurant cook allegedly admitted to investigators that he used a kitchen knife to dismember Baber’s body in the bathroom of their home, burned her remains in the fireplace and then disposed of the ashes in the garbage.

A team of local and state investigators unearthed what they believed to be Baber’s charred remains from the backyard and garden of the couple’s home, according to police reports.

Stricker has been jailed on a $5 million bond since his April 5 arrest.