Stephen Nichols

HOOD RIVER — A Bend man accused of killing a woman in 2009 while hiking in the Columbia River Gorge pleaded not guilty to murder Monday in Hood River County Circuit Court.

Stephen Nichols, 40, appeared in civilian clothes next to his attorney, Michael Arnold, of Eugene, to plead not guilty to one count of murder for the death of his girlfriend, 23-year-old Rhonda Casto. Nichols is scheduled to stand trial in May or June of next year.

Nichols, whose listed address is a home near Sunriver, has been in custody at the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility since February. Casto’s family members, present in the courtroom Monday, declined requests for comment.

In court Monday, Arnold, Seventh Judicial District Circuit Judge John Olson and Hood River County Deputy District Attorney Carrie Rasmussen discussed future dates for Nichols’ case.

Arnold indicated plans to file several motions. A hearing regarding Nichols’ release from jail has been tentatively scheduled for early August, while motions to recover some of Nichols’ property seized by authorities and to suppress evidence of prior bad acts are also pending.

“I think there’s quite a few things we can return,” said Rasmussen of the motion to release the property.

Nichols was arrested in the San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 2 on a nationwide felony warrant after arriving from China, according to the San Mateo County, California, Sheriff’s Office. His destination was Medford.

A secret indictment was handed down in April 2014, according to Hood River County Circuit Court records.

The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office has declined to release its initial investigation of Casto’s death, saying it is pertinent to an open criminal investigation.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com