An Alpine man is accused of killing his friend after a night of drinking at a bar.

Clair Nichols, 51, is charged with second-degree homicide in the May 16 stabbing death of David Reneker, 41. He’s being held on a $100,000 bond.

A Lincoln County judge decided Monday that there was enough evidence in the case to move it to the 9th District Court.

Blood found on Nichols’ clothing, in his car and on a knife in his home matched DNA samples taken from Reneker, according to an affidavit in the charging document filed in Judge Frank J. Zebre’s Lincoln County Circuit Court.

Reneker was found dead in his home by a friend early May 17.

Lincoln County court records say deputies found large pools of blood outside and inside Reneker’s house, and a revolver and a blood-covered cell phone outside the house. Reneker was found leaning backward over the kitchen counter with a large hole in his neck. An autopsy later revealed that he was probably stabbed five to seven times in the neck.

Deputies discovered through interviews that Reneker was drinking most of May 16 and went to the Flying Saddle Bar in Alpine with Rex and Julie Draper and they were later joined by Nichols, according to court records.

The couple left the bar, and Nichols helped a stumbling Reneker home, the court documents say.

Deputies reported that Nichols was nervous when they interviewed him May 18, two days after Reneker’s death. He said he dropped Reneker off at 9 p.m. and then said he wanted to talk with a lawyer, according to court records. He told investigators he was wearing the same clothes he wore the night he was out with Reneker and the Drapers, the court documents say, and deputies noticed what looked like dried blood on his clothes and boots.

Authorities say another friend, Bruce Plott, told them Nichols came over to his house May 17 and said there was blood in his car and he wondered if someone else had driven it because it wasn’t parked where he thought and there was a mysterious black baseball cap in the passenger seat. Plott said Nichols added that he’d lost his pocket knife, court documents say.

Deputies secured search warrants and collected clothing and patches of fabric from Nichols.

A few days later, the Drapers called deputies and said they found Nichols’ bloody knife wrapped in a bag of hard candy in the house they share with him, according to court records.