A man accused of killing his uncle and removing his body from a Saugus home returned to court on Thursday.

Daniel Cierzan, 25, has been held to answer on one count of murder following the mysterious disappearance of his uncle, Will Cierzan, over four years ago. He is set to return to court on Sept. 9 for a pretrial hearing.

A pretrial hearing involves the judge, prosecution and defense convening in order to present evidence, documents and/or any other relevant materials/matters before the trial begins.

Will Cierzan was last seen on Jan. 26, 2017, at his Saugus-area home. During the preliminary phase of the court proceedings, the prosecution laid out their belief that the nephew was involved the murder of Will, as well as the transportation and still mysterious disposal of his body.

Although counsel and the judge all agreed during the preliminary phase that something nefarious happened to Will Cierzan over four years ago, Judge David Walgren said after hearing from all six witnesses and examining the evidence that it was not only “abundantly clear to him” that Will Cierzan was dead but also that the blood, DNA, video and testimony evidence all pointed to Daniel Cierzan as being responsible for his uncle’s death.

The audio recording of Charles Cierzan — who is Will’s brother and Daniel’s father — telling detectives in February 2020 that he had lied to cover for his son back on Jan. 28, 2017, was also heavily factored into the court’s decision, Walgren said.

“Only two people have been proven to have lied about this: the defendant and his father,” said Walgren. “For the purposes of a preliminary hearing, I think the evidence is quite strong that Daniel did, in fact, murder his (uncle) in that computer room on Jan. 26.”