READING, Pa. - Nearly five months after Michael Petrino Jr. seemingly vanished, three defendants, Khalil Nein, Gerson Caicedo and Jazmiere Brockington, appeared in court for a preliminary hearing.

The three men, who were previously charged in his kidnapping, are now additionally charged with Petrino’s murder.

The prosecution called three witnesses to testify during the hearing.

Much of the witnesses' testimony focused on how Petrino has not been seen or heard from since March 25th of this year.

On that day, investigators say he was seen on surveillance being beaten and put into the trunk of a car in an alleyway near North 2nd and Oley streets in Reading.

The second witness, one of the juveniles charged in Petrino's kidnapping, says he was with Petrino in March over a week before the disappearance.

During that time, the witness said Petrino and three others orchestrated a robbery of two drug dealers.

The witness says there was a bounty on Petrino after that, and that he was worried for him. The juvenile said "it was either him or me" when asked why he helped lure Petrino into the alley.

The witness additionally testified that another one of the three juveniles charged asked the defendants what happened to Petrino the following day. He says he was told by Brockington 'Don't worry about it.’

A Reading police criminal investigator says after the kidnapping, the car that Petrino was put in was picked up on several license plate readers around the county. One of the places being a location associated with one of the dealers Petrino allegedly robbed.

The investigator also says that digital evidence placed the three defendants, and eventually another person, near a heavily wooded area near Birdsboro in the hours after the alleged kidnapping.

All three defendants were represented by different attorneys.

The defense team took turns questioning the validity of the circumstantial evidence presented at the hearing and asking questions about the weight of the defendants' motive to commit Petrino's murder.

The team also pointed to the fact that no body being present could call into question whether Petrino is actually dead, saying the evidence did not substantiate murder charges.