A 66-year-old suspect is behind bars, accused in the murder of a man missing for more than three years and whose body has never been found.

Jeffery Glenn Wilhite, 57, was last seen on April 3, 2020, near West Point in Cullman County. He was never seen or heard from again.

Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry and District Attorney Champ Crocker on Wednesday announced a murder indictment against Randall Dewayne Hogan. A grand jury issued that indictment on Monday, court records show.

According to that indictment, Hogan intentionally caused the death of Wilhite “by shooting him with a gun and/or by some other method.”

A motive in the slaying has not been disclosed.

Court records show Hogan was indicted in 2021 on charges of discharging a firearm into 1997 Ford Ranger, reckless endangerment and menacing.

Those alleged crimes happened on April 2, 2020, about the same time Wilhite disappeared, court records show. A trial date has been set for December in those cases.

Gentry said the case is unique because Wilhite’s body has not been found and for that reason, additional details are not being released at this time.

“Like any missing person case, we take the case very seriously and we work it like any other crime or criminal act until we determine there was no crime committed,’’ the sheriff said.

“For us, when we have a missing person, there’s a lot of people involved – mamas and daddies and kids – so it never leaves us,’’ Gentry said. “We initially believed there was a crime committed but we had to prove what we believed.”

The sheriff said the three-year investigation has included numerous interviews and search warrants.

“We have been relentless at gathering information for a prosecution so this family can have peace,’’ he said.

“We believe we have enough evidence to go forward,’’ Crocker said. “We trust the jury system. We trust this process.”

Court records also so Hogan in March filed a civil suit against a woman he said was slandering him by describing him as “dangerous, mentally ill and a murderer.”

Hogan, of Cullman, is being held in the Cullman County Jail. An Aniah’s Law bond hearing is set for Thursday.