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The FBI said it will take months to analyze all of the evidence in the killing of a Rocky Boy man last month, and a federal prosecutor said she does not expect charges to be filed for at least six months.
Alton Boyd "Muck-Tune" Alexander, 30, was killed June 18. His body was found near a trash bin at Wild Rose Village on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation. The FBI said the cause of death was blunt force trauma in conjunction with stabbing.
The FBI has identified several juvenile suspects, but has not arrested anyone in connection with the killing, said Dan Veirthaler, a supervisor with the Billings FBI office.
For now, investigators are waiting for the results of forensic testing, Veirthaler said.
"The case agent did prepare everything (including) all the forensic evidence, which is considerable. It will be sent to the lab in Quantico, Virginia," he said. "Given the sheer volume of evidence, it will probably take some time."
Veirthaler did not elaborate on what evidence will be sent to the lab, though another FBI spokesman said last month that it included a bloody fingerprint lifted from a vehicle seized as evidence.
The U.S. Attorney's Office will likely not seek an indictment until after all of the tests are complete, Veirthaler said.
"If charges are filed, we have 70 days to take them to trial," he said. "Some of these tests you simply can't have done in 70 days; you physically cannot get them done that quickly."
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lori Harper Suek said it will probably be six months or longer before the case is brought before a grand jury.
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