The capital murder trial for Anthony B. Mertz, the Eastern student charged with strangling fellow student Shannon McNamara to death June 12, has been pushed back three months while additional charges were filed Thursday.

During the hearing, Coles County State’s attorney Steve Ferguson filed two more first degree murder charges, two charges of home invasion and six counts of aggravated criminal assault to the already-filed six counts of murder. Mertz has pleaded innocent to all charges.

Circuit Court Judge Dale Cini decided in Thursday’s hearing to deny Mertz’s request for bond after hearing prosecution testimony from Charleston Police Detective Kevin Paddock. Paddock testified about new DNA evidence linked to the murder as well as recounting the investigation and evidence that linked Mertz to the crime scene.

Mertz is accused of killing 21-year-old McNamara, who was found dead in her apartment at 1125 Fourth St. The 25-year-old allegedly choked her to death, mutilated her body and sexually assaulted her after she was dead. If convicted, Mertz could face the death penalty.

During a Dec. 18 hearing, Cini granted the defense’s request to delay the trial to April 15. The trial was previously scheduled to begin Jan. 22. Ferguson did not object to the delay and suggested the April date, noting the addition of defense attorney Paula Phillips to the case in October.

Phillips was added to the defense counsel after Mertz’s case was awarded a grant from the capital murder fund.

The additional charges were filed after police sent scrapings from under McNamara’s fingernails to the Springfield Crime Laboratory, where indications of blood that matched Mertz’s DNA were found, Paddock testified. DNA analysis from the scrapings matched the DNA of Mertz and McNamara, Paddock said. He also testified there was more than a one in one billion chance that the blood could match anyone other than Mertz.

An analysis of blood that was on a knife found in a dumpster near McNamara’s apartment was found to be a match with McNamara’s blood, Paddock said. The detective’s testimony of the DNA evidence was the first time that such information had been made public.

Also in his testimony, Paddock included information about a credit card that was found in McNamara’s apartment with Mertz’s name on it. He also testified about a set of Farberware knives found in a drawer in McNamara’s kitchen that matched the knife found in a dumpster with McNamara’s blood on it.

Paddock also testified that a box cutter had been found near McNamara’s body. He said Mertz had access to the same type of box cutters through his job as a student worker at the university’s Student Recreation Center. Another student worker told police that a box cutter was missing from Mertz’s cart.

Police have also found that what was first thought to be a bite mark on McNamara’s arm was actually made by the impression of a round object. Paddock said tests revealed the mark was similar to a watch Mertz owns and that the mark could have been made by the watch.

Mertz’s court-appointed attorneys Phillips and Lonnie Lutz did not present any evidence to support Mertz’s bond request Thursday, instead relying on the motion that was filed. Phillips’ motion said Mertz would live with relatives in Rossville if he was released.

Cini gave Ferguson two weeks to file death penalty charges in connection with the two new first-degree murder charges.

Cini scheduled a review hearing for Feb. 13.