Raleigh, N.C. — The trial of an Apex man accused of killing an Apex High School student in 2008 has been pushed back to September as police search for more evidence in the case.

Ryan Patrick Hare is one of four people charged with first-degree murder in the death of 18-year-old Matthew Josiah Silliman.

Wake County deputies found Silliman's body on Dec. 2, 2008, at an unoccupied property in New Hill. He had been beaten with a hammer and died from asphyxiation, according to an autopsy.

Silliman had been missing for a week, and he was the subject of a Silver Alert. Arrest warrants said the homicide occurred Nov. 30, 2008.

Police recently received an anonymous e-mail implicating a fifth person in Silliman's death, and they seized a computer as evidence in the investigation, authorities said during a court hearing Thursday.

Forensic technicians with the State Bureau of Investigation are combing through the computer for any details to substantiate the claim, and police also are reviewing more than 80 hours of phone logs from the Wake County jail, where Hare is being held.

Hare's trial had been scheduled for May 24, but the trial date was reset to Sept. 6.

The other three people charged with Silliman's death – Allegra Rose Dahlquist, Aadil Shahid Khan and Drew Logan Shaw – have been offered plea deals in exchange for their cooperation and testimony against Hare.

Hare, Dahlquist and Khan also have been charged with attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with an incident involving Silliman five days before he was killed.

The suspects are believed to have been friends with Silliman. Dahlquist and Khan were seniors at Apex High School at the time, while Shaw was a sophomore at Panther Creek High School. Hare withdrew from Panther Creek High School in February 2008.