SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing in a murder case pending against a Hope woman was postponed Wednesday so the state and the defense have more time to prepare.

Linda Carol Provo’s hearing is being postponed until Nov. 9. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall and Chief Public Defender Janet Whitney moved jointly for the continuance, court records show.

Provo, 54, remains jailed with bail set at $250,000.

Provo, also known as Linda Buxton, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of her boyfriend at their home in the Cabinet Mountains on Oct. 6. Jeffrey Lester Newton, 57, died of apparent blunt force trauma to the head, according to Marshall.

A criminal complaint states that Provo killed Newton with malice aforethought, but without premeditation.

Provo contacted her daughter in Clark Fork after the killing and was taken to the Bonner County Jail, ostensibly to turn herself in to authorities.

Whitney said in a prior court proceeding that Provo meant to turn herself in, but was rejected at the jail. Wheeler disputed that characterization and said that Provo had second thoughts and left the facility before she could be contacted by a deputy.

Provo caught a ride from the jail from a passerby and was taken to the Sand Creek Schweitzer Conoco on U.S. Highway 95, about a half a mile from the sheriff’s complex. Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler saw Provo emerging from a outbuilding behind the filling station and arrested her, Marshall said.

A motive in the killing has not been released, although 1st District Court records show Newton has a history of domestic violence against Provo.

Provo was the protected party in a no-contact order entered against Newton in conjunction with a misdemeanor domestic violence arrest on Sept. 2.

Newton was scheduled to be tried for the offense two days before he was killed, although proceedings in Bonner County Magistrate Court were postponed because Newton was undergoing medical treatment in Santa Barbara, Calif., court records show.

Newton was accused of battering and choking Provo in 2006 and striking her in the head with a framing hammer in 2014, although charges of attempted strangulation and aggravated battery were dismissed by state, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

A search warrant was obtained for the couple’s home at 1466 West Spring Creek Road, although it has not yet been disclosed in court records what was recovered from the dwelling.