HARRISONVILLE, MO. ? A preliminary hearing was set for a Cass County man who told authorities that he killed seven reputed drug dealers, while authorities declined to comment Thursday on a broadcast report that the crimes may have never happened.

During a brief hearing Thursday, a preliminary hearing for Michael Lee Shaver Jr., 33, was set for Nov. 2. He is charged with one count of first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bond after authorities said he told them he murdered the seven men and spread their bones around the house outside Drexel where he lived with his mother.

Investigators have said they have found bones from at least two victims but have not yet determined their identities.

Authorities declined to comment Thursday on a report by WDAF-TV in Kansas City that investigators now have doubts about Shaver’s confession. Citing an unidentified source, WDAF-TV reported that results from tests on the bone fragments indicate that they all came from one body, which may have been a medical cadaver.

“My office is giving no comment, and it’s my understanding the sheriff’s department is giving no comment, so I don’t know where that came from,” Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley said.

Cass County Sheriff’s Cpl. Kevin Tieman and Shaver’s public defender, Jeff Martin, also declined to comment on the television report.

Investigators spent days conducting a meticulous search of the wooded property in rural Cass County and found hundreds of bone fragments.

Authorities said Shaver told them he dismembered the bodies with an ax or hatchet, burned the body parts in a fireplace in his bedroom and then smashed the skulls and larger bones with a hammer. He said he scattered the ashes and bone fragments in his backyard.

According to authorities, Shaver said he lured the victims to his home and then shot them.