FRANKLIN - A Polk man is headed for trial on charges he fatally shot a 38-year-old Emlenton woman in the face with a .44-caliber pistol.

Clayton J. Hindman, 49, was ordered held for court on homicide and other charges in the death of Salina Poppy Chilson at a preliminary hearing this afternoon in Franklin, Venango County.

The hearing before District Judge Matthew Kirtland came seven weeks after police discovered Chilson's badly decomposed body in the living room of Hindman's rental home in Polk.

Authorities believe Chilson had been dead for weeks when her remains were found July 25 after the defendant's daughter notified authorities and requested a welfare check on her father, advising she had not heard from him in several weeks.

Hindman was officially arrested Aug. 27 for the killing after his extradition from south-central Missouri, where his girlfriend lives. He was being held by Missouri authorities since late July.

Testifying at the hearing was the Polk police officer who first found the body, the county coroner and the state police criminal investigator who led the investigation.

In addition to homicide, Hindman is charged with aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault and reckless endangerment. He remains in the Venango County Jail.

This is an excerpt. For the full details, pick up Sunday's Butler Eagle.