A multistate federal drug conspiracy case involving meth has been linked in court documents to a March murder at a truck stop in Grand Forks.

Since last week, eight people have been indicted or formally charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance.

The defendants are accused of conspiring to distribute more than 500 grams of meth in Minnesota and North Dakota, as well as Grand Forks, using actual violence or threats of violence to further the conspiracy, according to an indictment made public Tuesday in federal court records.

“This includes, but is not limited to, the murder of A.B.F. on or about March 11 in Grand Forks,” the indictment states.

The reference is likely to the murder of Austin Brant Forsman of Grand Forks, who was found dead March 11 in a vehicle at the Flying J truck stop at 4401 32nd Ave. S.

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Krystal Lynn Feist, 31, was charged in Grand Forks District Court with murder in connection with the death of the 24-year-old, but Feist is not listed as one of the defendants in the federal conspiracy case. She also does not face any drug charges regarding the murder case in district court. She faces life in prison if convicted on the AA felony murder charge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Shasky hinted at one of the defendant’s detention hearings Monday that his office was considering a superseding indictment as they look into whether a homicide is connected to the case.

How the two cases are related and each defendant's role has not been released.

At Monday’s detention hearings in Grand Forks federal court, Torrez was ordered to remain in jail leading up to his trial, while Wiley was released into third-party custody of a family member.

Torrez and Wiley are scheduled to go to trial June 7, and depending on how many of the defendants join them, the prosecution estimates the trial could last four to eight days.

In the meantime, the other defendants are going through hearings to be formally charged.

Hills has a detention hearing 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Grand Forks, while Franklin makes his first appearance 3:30 p.m. the same day in federal court in Fargo. A couple of weeks later, Anderson will make his first appearance at 10:30 a.m., while Morado will make his at 1:30 p.m. May 10. Both are in federal court in Fargo.

Delorme’s and Scott’s next court appearances have not been scheduled, according to PACER, an online service which provides access to federal court records.

Police began investigating Forsman’s death after finding his body March 11 at the truck stop early.

Between 4 and 5 a.m. that day, Forsman was sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked car with another person in the Flying J parking lot, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The passenger exited the vehicle Forsman was in and got into a white SUV driven by Feist, according to the affidavit. Another person also was in the car with Feist.

Feist drove up behind Forsman’s parked vehicle and got out of the SUV with “a long gun in her hands,” according to the affidavit.

Investigators determined Feist then walked to the driver’s side of Forsman’s vehicle and uttered something before pointing the gun at Forsman and firing the gun, according to the affidavit.

Feist was booked the same day in Grand Forks County Correctional Center before making her first appearance March 14 in Grand Forks District Court, where a judge set a $500,000 cash bond.

Feist faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the a Class AA felony murder charge.

Her next court appearance is 9 a.m. May 23.

Court records do not show that anyone else has been charged in the murder case.