WAYNE CITY — The former Fairfield man found guilty last month of the 2014 murder of Megan Nichols is seeking a new trial in the case.

Attorneys for Brodey Murbarger have filed a motion asking for a new trial for their client and on Wednesday the court scheduled a January 13, 2023, hearing on the motion.

After a week-long trial last month, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the case charging him with his high school girlfriend’s death.

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office assisted with the prosecution of the case and says Murbarger and Nichols were dating and ran away together in the summer of 2014. However, when Murbarger returned home, Nichols did not.

In 2017, investigators found traces of Nichols’ blood in the trunk of Murbarger’s vehicle. Later that year, her body was found buried in a shallow grave in rural Wayne County.

Her cause of death was determined to be probable asphyxiation by homicidal violence.

Murbarger was 18, and Nichols was 15 at the time of her disappearance. Murbarger was arrested in 2020.