A 66-year-old Oak Harbor man accused of murdering a resident of Montana over an access road dispute nine years ago is being held in Island County Jail on $500,000 bail, according to court documents.

Leon Ford made his preliminary appearance in court Thursday afternoon after being arrested Wednesday on a warrant out of Montana. An extradition hearing will be held after Montana sends a governor’s warrant, which is issued when one state requests the extradition of a criminal suspect from another state.

Prosecutors in Montana charged Ford Aug. 14 with deliberate homicide and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Ford is accused of murdering John M. Crites and burying his body parts at two wooded locations.

Ford’s attorney, Craig Platt of Oak Harbor, said he didn’t know whether they would oppose extradition yet.

“Defense counsel in Montana has some very interesting information about the case that I would like a chance to look at,” he said.

Platt also noted that the murder case had been “put to rest in 2012” by investigators and no action had been taken until very recently.

In court Thursday, Island County Deputy Prosecutor Michael Safstrom noted that Ford could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. He requested that Ford be held without bail, but Judge Alan Hancock conformed with the amount on the Montana arrest warrant.

Oak Harbor Police Chief Kevin Dresker said officers assisted a couple of detectives from Lewis and Clark County in Montana with arresting Ford. The officers waited until Ford left his house and drove away, then pulled him over and arrested him without incident.

It isn’t clear from the affidavit of probable cause if there is new evidence in the case.

The documents describes “a bitter dispute” between Ford and Crites over an access road that led to property owned by Ford and his wife.

The road crossed a portion of Crites’ property and Crites installed a metal barrier across the road to prevent Ford from using it.

The dispute escalated into a confrontation over a lock on the gate in 2007 in which both men were armed, the report indicates.

Then in 2011, Ford and his wife drove a rented motorhome and their truck to Montana. Ford allegedly went to Crites’ home June 25 and had a fight about the gate. The next day, Crites made his last phone call to a friend and warned that he was having issues with a neighbor that “could end in a gun fight.”

The friend said someone drove up to Crites’ home while they were talking and he hung up.

The document states that a neighbor’s game camera showed that Ford’s red Chevrolet pickup was headed up to Crites’ house just before the phone call ended.

Five hours later, the camera caught an image of Ford speeding away from the house.

A couple days later, a neighbor reported he was concerned about Crites after seeing his two wolf hybrid dogs loose in the woods; one of the hybrid wolves was carrying the neighbor’s pet dog in its mouth. The resident said Crites never let the animals run loose.

The Fords returned to Oak Harbor, the document indicates.

On Oct. 5, 2011, U.S. Forest Service found headless human remains, later identified as belonging to Crites, inside plastic garbage bags that was partially buried in an area near MacDonald Pass.

Investigators found cable ties at the site which were traced to Chugach Industries in Oak Harbor, where Ford and his wife worked at the time, the affidavit of probable cause states.

In September of 2012, a citizen pulled off the highway in the MacDonald Pass area to let his dog out of his vehicle. When the dog wouldn’t come out of the bushes, the man went into the undergrowth to retrieve it and found a human head, later identified as belonging to Crites. Nearby, investigators located a suspected burial site, other remains and the same type of cable ties, the report states.

The medical examiner determined that Crites died from gunshot wounds to the head and noted finding evidence of dismemberment.

A forensic scientist examined a bullet taken from the head. In October of 2012, detective served a search warrant on Ford’s home in Oak Harbor and seized three handguns, the investigator wrote.