Tuesday, county Assistant Prosecutor Eric Stewart said prosecutors would seek indictments against Littleton in all three slayings.
The grand jury next meets April 12, and Littleton will likely still be in the custody of West Virginia officials.
In a Tuesday morning appearance before Mercer County, W.Va., Circuit Judge William Sadler, defense attorney Sarah Harmon said her client would be challenging the extradition by filing for a writ of habeas corpus to challenge the legality of his arrest, incarceration and an Ohio governor’s warrant for extradition.
Sadler asked that the filings be submitted by April 4 and set April 21 as the final hearing on the matter.
The judge continued Littleton’s incarceration without bond.
Littleton was arrested Feb. 23 in a wooded area behind a Princeton, W.Va., Walmart to end a nationwide manhunt. The Russells’ car was discovered the night before in the store parking lot.
Brown, the daughter of Littleton’s longtime girlfriend, was found Feb. 16 stabbed to death, her body hidden under a pile of scrap wood in the basement of Littleton’s house in Bellefontaine. She had been reported missing Feb. 12.
Richard and Gladis Russell were reported missing Feb. 17.
The body of Richard Russell, 84, was found Feb. 26 near Chattanooga, Tenn. The body of Gladis Russell, 85, was discovered March 9 in a cotton field near Vienna, Ga.
Littleton is believed to have fled the Bellefontaine area Feb. 16 as investigators attempted to interview him about Brown’s disappearance.
Police have said Littleton made statements to them implicating himself in the deaths of the Russells.
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