MADISON, Wis. -- The former University of Wisconsin-Madison student charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Madison man last winter will have a preliminary hearing next Friday.

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Adam Peterson's attorneys and the Dane County district attorney met behind closed doors on Wednesday to quickly schedule the hearing.

No other discussions were held, according to Peterson's attorney Dennis Burke.

Family members of the victim, Joel Marino, as well as members of the media were waiting for the status conference court hearing, but were quickly told there wouldn't be one.

Marino's father and one set of grandparents were waiting to go into court when it was canceled.

Police said that Peterson, 20, fatally stabbed Joel Marino in his Madison home on Jan. 28. Peterson was arrested at his mother's home in Grant, Minn., near Stillwater and charged last month. He was extradited to the Dane County Jail in Madison.

As more police documents become public, it's becoming clear that Peterson's Madison life is of interest not only to authorities working the Marino murder but to those investigating the death Brittany Zimmermann.

The next hearing reveal new details, as prosecutors try to show probable cause to believe Peterson stabbed to death Marino on Jan. 28.

Drugs, homeless persons, and mental health problems listed in police documents on Peterson are painting a more complicated picture of Peterson.

His defense attorney on Wednesday had no comment about his client's mental state, or whether it would influence any future plea.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," said Burke. "It's premature for me to start making predictions."

According to a police search warrant application, Peterson was having mental health issues last March about six weeks after Marino's death.

On March 7, Peterson's twin brother Erik called the police for help, telling them his brother's "behavior had become worse and worse, hostile and that Adam had just pushed him up against a wall," WISC-TV reported.

One of Erik's roommates said to police, "The day before, Adam walked over to a wall and started pounding on it, then kicked the couch." He described Adam's face as "complete anger, wide open eyes and clenched teeth," WISC-TV reported.

It's during this first police contact that drugs are mentioned. Erik said "Adam was much more paranoid when he was using drugs." He later said Adam "had been using cocaine base or crack cocaine," WISC-TV reported.

Drugs are mentioned, along with homeless people regarding Adam's West Main Street apartment building.

On Jan. 20, Peterson told police his "laptop and MP3 player were stolen by a homeless black male suspect named Bruce, who was living in (his) apartment.".

In the search warrant record, police note "on the second floor of Adam's apartment building there is an apartment occupied by several individuals known to use cocaine base."

All the background information is now part of the Brittany Zimmermann investigation, WISC-TV reported. Zimmermann was a UW student who was found killed last April in her campus-area apartment, but no suspects have been arrested.

Authorities said that they haven't linked to the two slayings.

"There is no forensic connection between the Marino case and the Zimmermann case," said Joel DeSpain, the public information officer for the Madison Police Department. "What we don't know would be all the associates that Mr. Peterson might have in the past.

"Could one of those associates may be linked to the Zimmerman case? We don't know that yet. That's why the investigation continues," said DeSpain.

When asked whether anything was stolen from Marino's home or Zimmermann's, police said they have no motive in either slaying.

Police also said they have never linked the Kelly Nolan slaying to the two others. Nolan was a UW-Whitewater student who vanished from Madison's downtime area last summer. Her remains were later found in a wooded area.

Peterson is currently being held on $1 million cash bail. He is still in a jail segregation unit and under a suicide watch.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.