Prosecutors in Montana hope to compel five Whidbey residents to testify at the trial of an Oak Harbor man accused in a grisly 2011 murder.

Leon Ford is accused of murdering John M. Crites over an access road dispute in Montana, where they owned property next to each other. Ford allegedly buried Crites’ body parts in two different wooded areas.

Ford is scheduled to go on trial in September in Lewis and Clark County. He is facing charges of deliberate homicide and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

The Island County Prosecutor’s Office is assisting Montana prosecutors in securing the testimony of the residents as material witnesses.

Court records indicate that Debbie Ford, the defendant’s wife, was subpoenaed to testify against her husband. She drove with her husband to and from Montana in the summer of 2011, court records indicate.

Several of the witnesses are expected to testify about unique cable or zip ties that were found in the two areas where Crites’ dismembered and plastic-wrapped body parts were found buried, according to court documents.

Investigators believe Ford obtained the cable ties, which were stamped with identifying information, from his job at Chugach Industries in Oak Harbor, according to a report by investigators.

Another witness who operated a sawmill and worked on a building project with Ford is also being called to testify. The man is expected to tell the jury that Ford was able to do physical labor, such as working with logs, despite having some physical limitations as a result of military service, court documents state.

A report by a special criminal investigator in Montana describes “a bitter dispute” between Ford and Crites over an access road that led to property owned by Ford and his wife. The road crossed a portion of Crites’ property and Crites tried to prevent Ford from using it.

The dispute escalated into a confrontation over a lock on the gate in 2007 in which both men were armed, the report indicates.

Then in 2011, Ford and his wife drove a rented motorhome and their truck to Montana. Ford allegedly went to Crites’ home June 25 and had a fight about the gate. The next day, Crites made his last phone call to a friend and warned that he was having issues with a neighbor that “could end in a gun fight.”

The friend said someone drove up to Crites’ home while they were talking and he hung up.

The document states that a neighbor’s game camera showed that Ford’s red Chevrolet pickup was headed up to Crites’ house just before the phone call ended. Five hours later, the camera caught an image of Ford speeding away from the house, the report states.

The Fords returned to Oak Harbor. Crites’ friends reported him missing.

On Oct. 5, 2011, U.S. Forest Service found headless human remains, later identified as belonging to Crites, inside plastic garbage bags that were partially buried in an area near MacDonald Pass. Cable ties at the site were traced to Chugach Industries in Oak Harbor, where Ford and his wife worked at the time, the affidavit of probable cause states.

In September 2012, a citizen pulled off the highway in the MacDonald Pass area to let his dog out of his vehicle. When the dog wouldn’t come out of the bushes, the man went into the undergrowth to retrieve it and found a human head, later identified as belonging to Crites. Nearby, investigators located a suspected burial site, other remains and the same type of cable ties, the report states.

The medical examiner determined that Crites died from gunshot wounds to the head.

A forensic scientist examined a bullet taken from the head. In October 2012, detectives served a search warrant on Ford’s home in Oak Harbor and seized three handguns, the investigator wrote.