Items of evidence collected in a murder case against a Bowling Green man and his father have been submitted for testing, a judge heard Monday.

Ali Fadil, 30, appeared Monday in Warren Circuit Court for a pretrial conference in a case in which he faces charges of murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence.

Fadil is accused of intentionally causing the death of Michael Scott Lee, 56, of Bowling Green.

Lee’s body was found in a Jeep Cherokee on Morgantown Road in the early morning hours of Dec. 22.

A passing motorist saw the wrecked vehicle in the 11000 block of Morgantown Road and alerted authorities.

At Fadil’s hearing, his court-appointed attorney, Jason Pfeil of the Department of Public Advocacy, informed Warren Circuit Court Judge Chris Cohron about the status of the case.

Pfeil said that he had spoken with Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kori Beck Bumgarner regarding evidence that had been submitted to the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab for analysis.

“There are still some forensic tests that are outstanding, which is not at all unusual for this type of matter,” Pfeil said.

Bumgarner said that blood had been found on some items that had been submitted for analysis, and a DNA sample had been collected from Fadil as part of the investigation.

Cohron set Fadil’s next court appearance for a July 7 status hearing.

Fadil’s father, Sabah Khadim, 56, of Bowling Green, also appeared in court Monday with his attorney, Dwight Burton.

Khadim is charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the investigation into Lee’s death.

Bumgarner informed the court Monday that she provided discovery evidence to Burton and that forensic analysis of evidence in Khadim’s case was also outstanding at the KSP lab.

Burton also asked for a ruling on Khadim’s motion to reduce his bond.

Khadim is being held in Warren County Regional Jail under a $100,000 cash bond, and Burton made a brief argument for the bond to be modified, saying that while the case was serious, the crimes charged against Khadim are Class D felonies, the lowest classification.

Cohron said he would review the discovery in the case and issue an order soon on Khadim’s motion.

Khadim is also due back in court July 7.

Lee’s death was investigated by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.

According to prior court testimony, detectives determined that Lee’s injuries were not consistent with a vehicle crash.

At a preliminary hearing in January in Warren District Court, WCSO Detective Nick Jewell testified that detectives noted trauma to Lee’s head and recovered a bloody sledgehammer from under one of the seats in the Cherokee, which was found with minor front-end damage.

Law enforcement received a tip linking Fadil to Lee’s death, and further investigation enabled detectives to learn that Lee had planned to meet with someone around 10 p.m. on the night of Dec. 21.

A review of cell tower records from that time frame suggested that phones belonging to both men pinged off towers near the Anna community.

“Cell data shows phones for Mr. Fadil and Mr. Lee hitting the same cell towers within seconds (of one another),” Jewell said at the preliminary hearing.

Through search warrants, police established that phones belonging to Lee and Fadil pinged off the same cell towers within seconds of one another late on the night of Dec. 21 through a short time past midnight, stopping on Morgantown Road north of Bowling Green, Jewell said in court.

Fadil was arrested Jan. 2 on a count of murder, and a grand jury subsequently indicted him and his father in March.