{"id":32755,"date":"2026-06-20T07:46:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=32755"},"modified":"2026-06-20T07:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:46:36","slug":"fargo-murder-hearing-delayed-for-third-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/fargo-murder-hearing-delayed-for-third-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo Murder Hearing Delayed for Third Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

FARGO, N.D.<\/strong> \u2014 (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a> \u2014 A preliminary hearing for Joshua Alexander Hite has been delayed for a third time.<\/p>\n

Hite, 21, is charged with the death of Isadora Wengel, 25. Her body has not been recovered.<\/p>\n

Court records filed June 9, 2026, show Hite\u2019s defense requested another delay. The request involved the judge assigned to the case.<\/p>\n

Defense lawyers said Judge Steven E. McCullough was not scheduled for the June 19 hearing. They said Hite wanted his assigned judge to oversee the proceeding.<\/p>\n

McCullough approved the request on June 9. The hearing is now scheduled for July 15, 2026, at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n

Renata Selzer, an assistant Cass County state\u2019s attorney, confirmed the reason for the delay. She said the court continued the hearing for one term.<\/p>\n

Case information is available through the North Dakota Court System<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Charges<\/h2>\n

Hite faces charges of murder, evidence tampering, and giving false information to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Wengel was last seen on surveillance video at a Fargo Walmart on January 3, 2026. Her family reported her missing on January 7.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"JoshuaJoshua Alexander Hite and Isadora Wengel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Authorities arrested Hite on February 10, 2026. He remains at the Cass County Jail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His bail is set at $5 million cash only.<\/p>\n

A judge also ordered mental health evaluations for Hite. The evaluations will help determine whether he can stand trial.<\/p>\n

The results have not been released.<\/p>\n

The preliminary hearing was first moved from March 11 to March 31. It was later delayed until June 19.<\/p>\n

The latest order moves the hearing to July 15.<\/p>\n

Derek Steiner, an assistant Cass County state\u2019s attorney, is prosecuting the case. Defense attorney Nicole L. Bredahl represents Hite.<\/p>\n

Bredahl did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Search Efforts Continue<\/h2>\n

Volunteers have searched for Wengel\u2019s remains across the Fargo region and western Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Search areas have included the Red River, Battle Lake, and Fergus Falls.<\/p>\n

The Bring Isadora Wengel Home Facebook group has helped organize volunteer efforts.<\/p>\n

Organizers are planning another search in the Otter Tail County area. They are seeking local volunteers to help lead future searches.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Court Dates<\/h2>\n

A motion hearing is scheduled for September 2, 2026. A dispositional conference is set for September 3.<\/p>\n

A pretrial conference is scheduled for September 14. The jury trial is set to begin on September 15.<\/p>\n

The charges are accusations. Hite is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Fargo murder case hearing for Joshua Hite was delayed again as searches continue for Isadora Wengel and a July court date approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[772,6547,769,52,7717,1505,255,611],"class_list":["post-32755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-crime","tag-delayed","tag-fargo","tag-for","tag-hearing","tag-murder","tag-third","tag-time","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34031,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32755\/revisions\/34031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}