A Kansas man pleaded not guilty to allegations that he used a guitar string to behead a Topeka man, then kept his remains for a Voodoo ritual he'd planned.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that James Paul Harris didn't dispose of 49-year-old James Gerety's head so that he could speak to it after Gerety was killed sometime between March and April of 2011.
Harris, who appeared before a judge on Monday, is scheduled to stand trial on June 23.
According to Harris' ex-girlfriend Bobbie Williams, who testified during an initial hearing on March 14, the 29-year-old man told her that he shot Gerety in the stomach, then cut his head off after torturing him for nearly two days.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported this week that Detective Brian Hill also spoke at the hearing. Hill said Williams admitted during an interrogation that he'd stored the head in a bag to use it later for a Voodoo ritual.
Gerety was first reported missing in April 2011, after he stopped retrieving Social Security payments, attorney Thomas Henderson stated during the March hearing.
Osage County resident Shirley Johnson told police that she found Gerety's skull on March 24, 2012.
Johnson, who lived with Harris' father in Carbondale, then brought the remains to the father, who alerted law enforcement officials thereafter.
Gerety and Harris allegedly had plans to live together in Carbondale, located around 18 miles south of Topeka.
Police said that witness testimonies indicated Harris buried Gerety's body once, then concealed it again. The rest of the 49-year-old man's body has not yet been found.
