Attorneys decided to wait to set a trial date in a Fourmile Canyon murder case due to the defendant needing a new attorney.

Stephen Christopher Wolf, 29, is charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, felony murder, first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, tampering with a deceased human body, vehicular eluding and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Jeffrey Michael Lynch, 57.

Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler ruled last week that Wolf was competent enough to stand trial, and Wolf appeared in custody for a status hearing Wednesday.

But according to officials one of Wolf’s court appointed defense attorneys, Beth Kelley, was recently appointed to be a magistrate with the 20th Judicial District, leading her to withdraw from the case.

Wolf briefly considered firing both Kelley and his other court-appointed attorney, Mary Claire Mulligan, but decided to keep Mulligan on as counsel.

But Mulligan noted the court would have to appoint her another defense attorney to help with the case, and she asked that the court wait to set a trial date until that appointment was made.

Prosecutors did not object to the request, and Wolf was set for a status conference on Feb. 22 to hopefully set a trial date at that time.

Wolf also extended the deadline on his speedy trial rights to allow for a later trial date that would allow the new defense attorney to get caught up on the case.

Wolf remains in custody without bond.

According to an arrest affidavit, Lynch was reported missing July 30, 2019, after he failed to show up at his girlfriend’s house on the previous Sunday.

Lynch was a general contractor and had been working on a vacant house on Camino Bosque in Fourmile Canyon, so the property owners went to see if Lynch was there. The owners arrived and found Wolf, who they did not know, sitting in Lynch’s car in the garage.

The property owner confronted Wolf, who said he was there to clean before saying the police were after him. The homeowner said she had not hired anyone to work on the house other than Lynch, and she called the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived, they found Wolf carrying shovels in a trash bag, according to the affidavit. Wolf saw the deputies and ran into the garage, but the two deputies handcuffed him.Deputies searched Lynch’s car and found his body wrapped in plastic in the trunk of the vehicle.

The coroner’s office ruled the cause of Lynch’s death was “homicidal violence by unspecified means.” While the report could not specify any exact injuries Lynch sustained, due in part to decomposition of the body, a forensic pathologist ruled the manner of death a homicide.

Prosecutors said Wolf, who had been trying to elude police following a traffic stop two days before being found with the body, broke into the home in the hopes of finding fuel for his car, and killed Lynch upon finding him in the house.

Wolf also has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and second-degree assault after reportedly assaulting an inmate at the jail.