SAC CITY, Iowa (AP) — The trial of a northwest Iowa man accused of killing his mother and kidnapping another woman has been moved to a courtroom nearly 50 miles away. A judge on Tuesday granted a change of venue request for 21-year-old Kirk Levin’s trial. It will be moved from Sac City in Sac County to Fort Dodge in Webster County. Levin’s attorney requested the change based on extensive media coverage in the county and surrounding counties.

The Sioux City Journal reports Levin’s trial is scheduled to begin on June 3. He is charged with first-degree murder and third-degree kidnapping. Prosecutors say Levin repeatedly stabbed Marilyn Schmitt in Early on Jan. 3, then kidnapped a 21-year-old woman. She later escaped. Levin had been released from prison days earlier after serving time for burglary.