San Jose, Costa Rica ? The push by Topekan Jeanette Stauffer for justice in the unresolved stabbing death of her daughter Shannon Martin advanced Tuesday when the three suspects fingered for the brutal slaying of the Kansas University student were presented with a second set of murder charges.

Martin was killed May 13, 2001, in the Pacific port town of Golfito, where she had gone to complete botanical research. KU has since closed its study abroad program in the town.

The three Costa Rican suspects, Kattia Cruz, 27, Rafael Zumbado, 52, and Luis Alberto Castro, 32, appeared in court Tuesday. Also in the closed-door preliminary hearing were Golfito Prosecutor Erick Mart–nez, Stauffer and her lawyer, Juan Carlos Arce, who presented the judge with a second set of murder charges.

The first murder charges were presented by Mart–nez during a separate preliminary hearing last May. But sources close to the case claimed the evidence presented then against the two male suspects, known by the street names “Caballo” and “Coco,” was weak and feared it would not result in a conviction. As a result, before a date for the murder trial was set by the judge, Stauffer acted on a provision of Costa Rican law and filed a motion for her own legal representation in the case — a legal provision she was unaware of earlier. The judge agreed to allow Stauffer representation last June, and she hired Arce, who, with the help of Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent Larry Thomas, conducted a separate investigation and presented a new set of charges.

During Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, the three suspects were presented with both sets of murder charges. The defense counsel denied the charges and, according to courtroom sources, proceeded to read large sections of the Costa Rican penal code in an effort to fill the allotted speaking time.

Arce told the judge he was going to introduce new evidence in the upcoming murder trial and four new witnesses who have not yet been identified. There are now 20 witnesses who will be called by Arce and Mart–nez to testify against the three suspects.

Arce also told the judge that several of the witnesses said they were being threatened by suspect Caballo, who was freed from jail last year on conditional release. Coco and Cruz, known by the nickname “La Panteonera” (The Grave Robber), are both still in jail. Arce requested that Caballo be returned to jail before the murder trial, in order to conduct more interviews without witnesses fearing for their safety. The KBI’s Thomas is expected to return to Golfito Sept. 18 to help conduct interviews, according to Stauffer.

The judge now has 48 hours to decide whether to sentence Caballo to another preventive prison sentence and set a date for the murder trial.

“I feel confident that we are where we need to be, and I feel like an end is in sight,” Stauffer said Tuesday.