CRYSTAL FALLS – A former Caspian woman accused of helping her husband kill an Iron River man she reportedly was having an affair with in October 2014 and then hiding the remains will face trial in the death.

Kelly Marie Cochran, 34, faces charges in Iron County Trial Court of homicide-open murder, a life felony; conspiracy to commit dead bodies-disinterment and mutilation, a 10-year felony; concealing the death of an individual, a five-year felony; accessory after the fact to a felony, a five-year felony, and lying to a peace officer-violent crime investigation, a four-year felony.

Judge C. Joseph Schwedler determined at a day-long preliminary examination Tuesday there was insufficient evidence to support a charge of home invasion-second degree, so he reduced it to larceny in a building, a four-year felony.

Cochran will be arraigned on all charges Oct. 11 in the death of 53-year-old Chris Regan.

Eleven witnesses – including members of law enforcement, Cochran’s neighbors, and a friend of Regan – testified for the prosecution at Tuesday’s hearing. A 12th witness, a detective from the Hobart Police Department in Indiana, was scheduled to testify Sept. 27, but the judge decided he heard enough Tuesday to find probable cause. Probable cause does not indicate guilt.

The defense did not present any witnesses, citing the preliminary nature of the hearing.

In addition to the Iron County charges, Cochran faces a homicide charge out of Lake County in Indiana for the Feb. 20 death of her husband, Jason Cochran. She reportedly admitted giving him an overdose of heroin and then covering his face when he began to vomit, according to Indiana court documents.

She was upset about Regan’s death and killed her husband for revenge, the documents state.

Cochran became more cooperative on the Regan case after Jason Cochran’s death, Iron River Police Chief Laura Frizzo testified. She apparently believed her husband had sent a letter to Iron River police before he died and was fearful of what the letter might contain, Frizzo said.

Although Cochran requested immunity in the case, Frizzo declined.

Multiple witnesses testified Cochran and Regan worked at Oldenburg in Iron River and were in an intimate relationship. She reportedly was in yet another relationship with another coworker about the same time.

Cochran initially told several different officers her husband knew about these relationships and was not bothered by them, according to testimony. However, at least one witness claimed Jason Cochran was “heartbroken” about the affairs.

Through various interviews with Hobart and Iron River officers between Feb. 23 and late April, Cochran revealed her version of what happened to Regan on Oct. 14, 2014:

She claimed to be “victimized” by Jason Cochran and lured Regan to her residence on Lawrence Street in Caspian. They began to engage in sex when Jason Cochran emerged from the basement and shot Regan in the back of the head with a .22 rifle, Frizzo testified.

The pair took Regan’s vehicle to the park-and-ride lot in Bates Township to get it away from their home, Frizzo said.

They then dragged Regan’s body into the basement, where Jason Cochran dismembered it with a reciprocating saw. He placed body parts in 10 to 15 black garbage bags and considered placing them in acid, but Cochran was concerned buying a large quantity of acid in a small town would appear suspicious, Frizzo said.

Instead, they drove the bags out to the northern part of Pentoga Trail in Crystal Falls Township and dumped them in a wooded area, Frizzo said.

Terry O’Donnell, a friend of Regan, reported him missing Oct. 27, 2014 after she heard he had not shown up for work in two weeks and found his apartment disheveled.

Retired Sgt. Cindy Barrette, formerly of the Iron River Police Department, took the complaint and checked on a report of Regan’s car at the Bates park-and-ride lot. She found a note in the vehicle with handwritten directions to Cochran’s residence in Caspian.

Neighbors David Saylor and Carolyn Miatech both reported strange noises from the Cochran residence in fall 2014. Saylor heard constant sanding and power tools running in the middle of the night, while Miatech claimed to hear a gunshot and voices before seeing two people disappear into a car.

After police conducted a search at the Cochran home March 5, 2015, the pair left town to stay with family in Hobart, Indiana, Frizzo said. They said they were sick of police harassing them but would return in a week, Saylor added. However, they never returned.

Additional search warrants between May and November 2015 revealed a reciprocating saw blade, metal parts from a pair of jeans and shoe grommets in the Cochrans’ fire pit, as well as a scent of human remains in the Cochrans’ pickup truck, Frizzo said.

Although Cochran had been talking with police about the Regan murder since Jason Cochran’s February death and had even traveled to Iron County to assist officers in searching for Regan’s remains, she left Indiana April 26 without telling anyone. Iron County authorities officially charged her with Regan’s murder April 28 and she was arrested later that day in Wingo, Ky.

When she was turned over to Iron County’s custody in May, she brought investigators to several different sites to recover evidence.

A trained human remains dog led them to a human skull off Pentoga Trail that had teeth matching Regan’s dental records, a medical examiner testified. Also in the area were wire-rimmed glasses and a black plastic chewing tobacco container believed to be Regan’s.

Michigan State Police Dive Team members found a rifle barrel with the serial number ground off in the Caspian Pit.

Cochran said she threw Regan’s camera into Wildwood Lake near the Bates park-and-ride, but dive team members never found it, Frizzo said.

Cochran also claimed Jason Cochran had murdered others and she had hid a “trinket” or “trophy” bag of items from his victims on Pentoga Trail, Frizzo said. No such bag was ever found.

Nikki Younk’s e-mail address is nyounk@ironmountaindailynews.com.