Megan Boswell murder trial pushed to 2023. Where does the case stand?

Megan Boswell, the Sullivan County mother accused in 2020 of killing her toddler, will not stand trial until February at the earliest.

Boswell's case drew international attention after a search for 15-month-old Evelyn ended with the discovery of the child's body on family property.

Sullivan County Judge James Goodwin rescheduled the trial from Sept. 26 to Feb. 6 after a motion by Boswell's defense attorney cited "months and months and months" of delay in receiving test results from the state crime lab.

Here's where the trial stands.

What has happened since Boswell's arrest?

The judge heard the motion to postpone the trial on Monday. Defense attorney C. Brad Sproles argued the postponement was necessary because of a fingerprint analysis done by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The fingerprint was found on a piece of evidence the defense attorney described as "crucial," although he declined to be more specific. Sproles said he just received the test results and needs more time to have it analyzed by his own expert.

"I feel like I don't have any choice," Goodwin said, noting that forcing an earlier trial date could lead to a conviction being overturned.

Megan Boswell trial: She knew daughter was dead before the body was discovered, investigator says

Megan Boswell's bail remains set at $1 million. She faces a total of 19 charges, including felony murder and aggravated child abuse, and could receive a sentence of life in prison without parole.

In the two-plus years since Megan Boswell's arrest, Sproles has sought to separate the charge of filing false reports from the murder trial, in effect having a separate trial for those charges. Boswell is scheduled to be back in court in September for the hearing on separating her charges.

Sproles also has asked to change the location of the trial. That hearing is scheduled for mid-December.

Widespread coverage sparked by tale of missing toddler

Evelyn was born in November 2018 to Megan Boswell, then 17, and Ethan Perry, then 19.

Megan Boswell was living with her father and two younger siblings at the family compound in Blountville, Tennessee. Perry had joined the military a year earlier after graduating high school.

Evelyn was first reported missing in February 2020 by her grandfather, Tommy Boswell Sr., who told authorities he had not seen the child since early December 2019.

According to investigators, Megan Boswell had been telling people Evelyn was with Perry. She told investigators Perry was refusing to return texts asking about Evelyn, but she did not report her as missing to police on the advice of her mother, Angela Boswell.

Megan Boswell then changed her story multiple times, investigators said. She told investigators Angela had Evelyn and was refusing to return her. Later, she said Angela gave Evelyn to an unnamed person, and Evelyn was safe and would have a better life with that person.

Megan Boswell changed story multiple times

In late February 2020, Megan Boswell admitted to investigators Evelyn was dead but that she did not know where her body was.

Boswell told Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent David Gratz her boyfriend rolled over onto the child while they were sleeping, Gratz said in a court hearing this spring.

In early March 2020, law enforcement agents found the girl's remains inside a shed at the family compound. According to Gratz, Evelyn's body was discovered in an old playhouse that was originally built for Megan Boswell to play in when she was a child.

Megan Boswell initially was taken into custody in mid-February 2020 on a charge of lying to authorities about Evelyn's disappearance. She was charged with Evelyn's death in August 2020.

Megan Boswell is accused of killing her daughter under two separate legal theories – that the child's death resulted from an act of child abuse or from an act of child neglect. The indictment alleges Megan Boswell abused her daughter's corpse, a charge typically leveled when a body is moved and hidden in some manner.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Here's why the Megan Boswell murder trial has been delayed to 2023