Over the past four months, investigators have been trying to determine what happened to Cody resident Katie Ferguson, who went missing on a cross country trip with her ex-boyfriend.

Authorities have been investigating whether the 34-year-old was killed by her ex, Adam Aviles Jr. — and court records indicate their efforts may be coming to a head.

Aviles has been held in federal custody since November on a count of being a felon in possession of ammunition; it relates to a fully loaded and bloody magazine found in his SUV. However, his court-appointed defense attorney has said Aviles could face more serious charges.

In apparent reference to Ferguson’s disappearance, Assistant Federal Public Defender David Weiss has said in filings that Aviles “is a suspect in a homicide case.”

The homicide investigation is underway in another, unnamed state, Weiss has indicated. In an early December interview with NewsNation, Ferguson’s mother, Mona Hartling, said authorities were waiting on DNA tests and cellphone location data.

In a March 5 filing, however, Weiss indicated the homicide investigation could be nearing its end: “... It is believed that a charging decision in that matter may occur in the coming weeks,” he wrote.

Charging documents indicate Ferguson was last seen in early October, while she was traveling with Aviles and their two young children from Alabama back to Cody. Aviles and the kids made the return trip to Cody, but Ferguson did not.

Aviles reportedly told Ferguson’s family members that she left near Little Rock, Arkansas, and never returned. When Ferguson was reported missing in early November, Aviles allegedly told police she was not missing and claimed she was simply avoiding her family.

Just days later, on Nov. 4, the Park County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle in Oregon Basin south of Cody. Deputies found Aviles’ Dodge Durango with a large amount of dried blood and cleaning supplies inside; they also discovered what looked like bullets and an apparent bullet hole in the passenger door that seemed to have come from a shot fired inside the SUV.

Aviles later preemptively turned himself in to law enforcement, but declined to speak with them, charging documents say.

Park County Sheriff’s Investigator Clay Creel and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Shane Reese subsequently worked to track Ferguson and Aviles’ trip and learned an officer in Trumann, Arkansas, had contacted the couple on Oct. 5.

Police body camera footage showed Ferguson, Aviles and the children parked in the Durango, with Ferguson seated in the passenger seat.

However, when a trooper with the Texas State Patrol spotted the Durango on Oct. 9, Ferguson was not in the vehicle, the apparent bullet hole was visible and a pile of clothes was covering the passenger seat. When deputies later found the vehicle in Oregon Basin, the passenger seat was missing.

Aviles has pleaded not guilty to the federal ammo charge and was set for an April 1 trial in Cheyenne. Last week, however, his defense attorney asked for that date to be pushed back for a second time.

Beyond the seriousness of the case, Weiss said he needs more time to review the evidence gathered by prosecutors “so that intelligent decisions can be made regarding motions and to evaluate whether to go to trial or enter a plea.”

Additionally, Weiss said more time is needed to hire consultants for a trial “and/or mitigation purposes.”

With no opposition from prosecutors, presiding U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson pushed the trial back to June 24. Whether that date will be needed remains to be seen. If homicide charges are filed elsewhere, “there is a good chance the United States would relinquish custody of Mr. Aviles to that jurisdiction,” Weiss wrote.