photo by: Mike Yoder

Rontarus Washington Jr. appears in Douglas County District Court Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, for a preliminary hearing to determine if there's enough probable cause to bind him over on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of Justina Altamirano Mosso.

A jury trial for the man accused of murdering a 19-year-old Lawrence woman at Lawrence’s Cedarwood Apartments in 2014 is now set for April 30.

That trial date falls more than three years after Rontarus Washington, 21, was arrested and jailed in connection with the killing.

Previously scheduled jury trials have been pushed back multiple times throughout the life of the case, including, most recently, to allow for Washington to spend time at Larned State Hospital to undergo a competency evaluation.

On Nov. 28, Douglas County District Court Judge James McCabria found Washington mentally fit to stand trial.

This week, McCabria and attorneys scheduled a two-week trial for April 30 through May 11.

Photos of Justina Altamirano Mosso, 19, provided by the Lawrence Police Department.

It was Nov. 9, 2014, when 19-year-old Justina Altamirano Mosso was discovered dead in a bloody bathroom of an apartment leased by her estranged husband at 1727 W. 24th St.

Mosso had been bludgeoned and stabbed repeatedly in the face, head and neck. Police believe she was killed two days earlier, on Nov. 7, 2014.

The case against Washington, who lived down the hall, was opened in January 2015, after he was arrested in Mississippi. He is charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated burglary.