Girard ? A man accused of killing his mother in Crawford County more than three years ago helped search the woman’s house and put up missing persons posters shortly after she disappeared.

Paul Hunt, 36, is charged with killing Mary Taylor, 52, whose body was found in a strip mine pit near Arcadia on June 29, 2002, six days after she was reported missing from her home in Fort Scott. He was arrested in March in Kennett Square, Pa., where he had been living. Hunt was bound over for trial on a first-degree murder charge Wednesday after a preliminary hearing.

Hunt was scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 21. A forgery charge against him was dismissed.

Taylor’s brother, James Cox, went to her home after one of her sons couldn’t reach her. Hunt was living at the home with his son and told Cox he had not seen his mother.

Both men searched the house and at one point Hunt made the statement, “It would not go to trial,” Cox said.

Hunt’s half-brother, Chris Hollingsworth, testified about going out with his wife and Hunt to put up missing persons posters in several communities. He said that when they drove by Arcadia, Hunt remarked that Terry Taylor, the missing woman’s husband, knew every strip pit in the area. He also quoted Hunt as saying “if someone wanted to get away with it, they could.”

Bruce Adams of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation testified that Hunt said his mother was sleeping on the couch when he left for work the day she disappeared. Adams said Hunt said he spent most of the weekend in Missouri with his girlfriend, Tammy Rees.

Rees, who said she’d been dating Hunt three to four weeks at the time, described his relationship with his mother as “bitter.” She said that when Hunt came to her home on June 21, he brought her some jeans, a shirt and pair of sandals that he said his mother had outgrown.

Rees said Hunt was usually clean when he came to visit, but he was dirty when he arrived that weekend.

Philip Bernhart, Hunt’s attorney, asked her about a number of calls she received from Hunt the night before. Rees said most of the calls were short and consisted of Hunt telling her he loved her. Hunt’s mother was not mentioned in any of the calls, she said.