A man accused of stabbing his mother in their Saugus home in 2016 returned to court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing, only to have it pushed back further.

 Jesse Lucatero, 26, is the only suspect in the 2016 murder of his mother, Maria Acevedo Lucatero, the owner of Margarita’s Mexican Grill in Valencia.   

On Oct. 3, 2016, Lucatero’s 57-year-old mother was found dead as the result of an apparent stabbing in the kitchen of the family’s home, according to officials.  

Lucatero, their youngest son, reportedly had a confrontation with his mother while at home before her murder, according to prosecutors.  

Mental health concerns likely played a factor in the killing, an official said in a previous KHTS article published at the time of the crime.

Lucatero’s mental competency was called into question at the beginning of his trial, but officials ruled that he was competent to assist in his own defense in June 2017, according to officials with the District Attorney’s Office.

Lucatero is currently being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles with bail set at $2,020,000.

He is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 11 to continue his preliminary hearing proceedings.

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