A jury trial in the murder case over the 2018 death of a Joliet woman has been delayed again after a defense motion for a continuance.

On Wednesday, the oral motion from attorney Chuck Bretz was granted in the case against Peter Zabala, 49, a sex offender who’s been facing the charge of first-degree murder in the death of Ashley Tucker, 25, for more than seven years.

Zabala’s case was continued to Jan. 28 for status of counsel and the jury trial was rescheduled for March 2, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Zabala’s case was expected to go to trial this week after Zabala rejected an offer from prosecutors on Tuesday. Prosecutors declined to reveal the details of that offer.

Zabala is charged with Tucker’s murder and the concealment of her homicidal death following a Joliet Police Department investigation into Tucker’s disappearance on Oct. 14, 2018.

Tucker’s burnt remains were found Oct. 26, 2018, inside a barrel in the backyard of a residence in Lockport Township.

In a 2023 court hearing, Bretz contended the case against his client is “extremely sketchy,” a forensic pathologist could not determine the cause of Tucker’s death and no one saw his client dispose of her body in a barrel.

In the same hearing, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald said Tucker’s blood was found in two vehicles that Zabala had access to and one of them was a Ford Thunderbird.

“That [Thunderbird] was processed via search warrant and there was blood found in the trunk, which was also tested by the crime lab and also came back to be Ashley Tucker’s blood,” Fitzgerald said.