It’s been nearly five months since police charged Shawn Higgins with beating a woman to death in Plum, but he still hasn’t had a preliminary hearing.

A preliminary hearing, during which a judge determines if there is enough evidence that a crime has been committed to continue, is one of the first stages of a criminal prosecution.

It’s not uncommon for hearings to be delayed, but Higgins’ preliminary hearing has been pushed back four times. His most recent hearing had been scheduled for Friday morning but is now delayed until June 12.

That will be nearly seven months since Higgins, 62, was charged.

Neither the district attorney nor public defender’s office offered a reason for the delay.

First Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Spangler declined to comment other than to call the gap a “defense postponement.”

Sarah Linder Marx, a spokesperson for the Allegheny County Public Defender’s Office, declined to comment. Marx would not confirm or deny whether Higgins was receiving any medical or mental health treatment.

Though Higgins has a Wilkinsburg address, he described himself as homeless to police, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.

County police charged him with killing Jacqueline Pryber on Nov. 15, 2025 and driving around with her body for several days.

Higgins was arrested in Washington Township after police there located Pryber’s body in the passenger seat of his pickup, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.

The two had been in Higgins’ Chevrolet pickup in the 9000 block of Saltsburg Road in Plum. Higgins said Pryber was drinking whiskey and doing drugs, according to the complaint.

Higgins then began punching Pryber in the face so badly that blood and tissue was “all over the inside of his truck,” police said.

During police interviews, Higgins said he had been living out of his truck with Pryber, who he had known for about four years, the complaint said.

He said he was angry with Pryber because she was taking money from him and seeing other men, according to the complaint.

Higgins was denied bail last November and confined in Allegheny County Jail. It’s unclear if he remains there.