ADRIAN — One defendant accused of killing a man whose headless, handless body was found in a farm field near Blissfield in 1997 appears to be proceeding toward a plea deal.

Michael Sepulveda is ready to enter a plea, but the Michigan Attorney General’s Office needs to prepare some documentation first, his attorney — Jim Daly of Adrian — told Lenawee County Circuit Judge Michael R. Olsaver during a pretrial hearing Wednesday.

Sepulveda, 50, of Toledo and his brother, Richardo Sepulveda, 52, of Cincinnati are each charged with first-degree murder and more. They were arrested in January 2023. Court records indicate a drug debt owed by Richardo Sepulveda may have been a motive in the murder.

Michael Sepulveda, “as part of our negotiations, gave a proffer to the police, some four hours’ worth of interview,” Assistant Attorney General Richmond Riggs told Olsaver. “My superiors want to see that proffer statement before a final decision is made.”

He said he and Daly have worked out a possible plea agreement.

“To be candid, my superiors are the ones that are going to make that final decision,” Riggs said.

The proffer statement should be prepared by mid-April. Riggs asked to schedule another pretrial for June 12. Daly agreed to that date, and Olsaver put it on the court’s schedule.

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In a separate hearing Wednesday, Richardo Sepulveda’s attorney, William Amadeo of Ann Arbor, asked to adjourn until June 12 so he could monitor the progress of Michael Sepulveda’s case. He and Riggs also said they would work together to resolve technical problems regarding the audio on some videos the Attorney General’s Office provided to Amadeo as part of the discovery process.

A farmer found the partially decomposed body Nov. 19, 1997, in a cornfield off Corey Highway in Blissfield Township. Police searched the cornfield and surrounding area but did not find the body parts, lending credence to a theory that the man was killed elsewhere before being dumped in Lenawee County.

The victim is believed to be a 32-year-old Hispanic man from around Corpus Christi, Texas. Investigators used clues from witnesses and medical examiners to determine the victim was a light-skinned, 5-foot-8, 150-pound, white or Hispanic man and may have been named Roberto. His DNA profile has been uploaded to a national database of missing and unidentified persons, and police are using genealogy websites that use DNA to build family trees to try to identify him.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Attorney: Co-defendant in 1997 murder ready to enter plea