AUSTIN — Michael Francis McIntosh, dressed in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit, pleaded not guilty in a Mower County courtroom Thursday to the homicide of 39-year-old David Madison.

McIntosh, 37, was charged Nov. 9 with second-degree intentional murder in the killing of Madison, who was killed over Halloween weekend and was found Nov. 1 in the Cedar River along Highway 105 south of Austin. A medical examiner found Madison died of “non-accidental blunt head trauma and ligature strangulation,” according to court documents.

McIntosh, with a steady voice and head hanging low, answered visiting Judge Matthew Opat’s questions. His attorney, Austin’s Evan Larson, told Opat that McIntosh was not requesting a speedy trial, and the judge gave the defense 60 days to file any motions.

Madison and McIntosh were friends at one time according to Sheriff Terese Amazi, but according to the court report had tension more recently. Deputies narrowed McIntosh down as a suspect early in the investigation.

Mower County deputies arrested McIntosh Nov. 6 at the Mower County Jail and Justice Center during a check-in for a separate, meth-related case, and he appeared in court Nov. 9 for an initial appearance. McIntosh is being held on unconditional $1 million bond or $500,000 bond with conditions, and faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison if convicted.

Investigators discovered Madison was last seen alive at a home on the 2000 block of Fifth Avenue Northeast in Austin early on Nov. 1, according to the report. Madison was reportedly engaged in a relationship with McIntosh’s 38-year-old girlfriend when McIntosh was in jail for prior charges. McIntosh was released from jail on Oct. 29, and Madison had told several people he feared McIntosh intended to harm him upon his release.

Investigators found that McIntosh bought a cleaning agent and garbage bags early on Nov. 1 at Walmart, and found paper towels and a half-gallon bottle of bleach among small, red stains, tire irons and the handle of a hammer in a vehicle parked at McIntosh’s home. They also found cleaning supplies and bleach in the kitchen, and several blunt objects including a pipe-wrench, a hammer, a bed leg shaved to look like a club and an expandable baton, which was bent. They found a pair of jeans with a dark stain similar to a blood stain and a hat with caked mud similar to the riverbank where Madison was found.

In the early hours of Nov. 1, two other couples became involved in the situation. On Nov. 5, investigators further questioned the girlfriend, who said she was asleep in the South Main Street home early on the morning of Nov. 1 when she awoke to hear a loud thud downstairs at around 2 a.m. Within a minute, McIntosh came up and told her not to go downstairs. She told police McIntosh took her downstairs and out the front door to be driven to an acquaintance’s home, but purposefully kept her from the kitchen. She said one of the couples then drove her to another couple’s residence. McIntosh did not come with them but joined them later at the residence.

However, one of the women reportedly told investigators McIntosh called her and her boyfriend to ask them to come over the morning of Nov. 1. They entered the back door and the woman immediately saw a body on the kitchen floor with blood on its head, but she didn’t want to look further. She reportedly saw McIntosh in the kitchen wearing only sweatpants, holding a bed or chair leg fashioned like a club. McIntosh was allegedly agitated and said he didn’t know what to do.

One of the witnesses said she could hear Madison breathing and then went upstairs to find the girlfriend on her phone reading messages she and Madison had exchanged earlier. The last message said something like “I am here,” but the witness suspected some messages may have been deleted. Eventually, the witness said the girlfriend left with one couple, leaving McIntosh alone at the residence. They went to the couple’s home, where McIntosh joined them about 90 minutes later.

One of the men also reportedly confirmed Madison was still breathing when they left the residence.

No emergency calls were made for aid and no attempts were made to take Madison to the hospital, according to the complaint.

On Nov. 5, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime scene team investigated the South Main Street home, finding more than 40 spots that tested presumptively for blood in the kitchen, back doorway and back steps.

Over the course of Nov. 1 through Nov. 7, police taped off a home at the corner of Eighth Street Northeast and Third Avenue Northeast and the home at Fifth Avenue Northeast. The investigation is still ongoing, and law enforcement is asking anyone with any information to call 507-437-9400.

McIntosh is next scheduled to be in court at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 12, 2016, for a pretrial, and at 9 a.m. on Feb. 22, 2016, if it goes to a jury trial.