By By NORMA LERNER / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - Bound over to Cass County Circuit Court on Monday for trial were two Kalamazoo men charged with open murder in the death of Joshua McCreary, 25, of Bloomingdale.
Authorities found McCreary's skeletal remains buried in a swampy area behind a Cranberry Lake Street residence in Marcellus Township on March 4.
The body was located in a hole not far from an old school bus where McCreary had been allegedly shot and burned, according to testimony at a hearing in district court.
Charged with the death of McCreary, 25, are Travis James Schmid, 22, of 9111 N.27th St., Richland, and Robert William Richards, 31, of 8622 Newhouse St., Portage.
Schmid faces charges of open murder, felon in possession of a firearm, conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, use of a firearm in commission of a felony (three counts) and fourth-offense habitual offender.
Richards faces charges of open murder, conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and second-offense habitual offender. Both face life or any term of years if convicted.
The trial for both Schmid and Richards will be held in Cass County Circuit Court in about four months.
McCreary's body was allegedly burned in the school bus after being shot. There was no flesh on his body and no clothes and had the odor of "burned chicken," according to a witness called by Prosecutor Victor Fitz. Testifying was David Richards, 27, brother of Robert Richards, who was an inmate in the Kalamazoo County Jail on charges of felony firearms and possession of methamphetamine. Fitz questioned Richards about cooking methamphetamine on property owned by Randy Reeves on Cranberry Lake Road. Richards said he and his brother, Robert, cooked the methamphetamine on the property and that he helped.