A man accused of killing and dismembering his victim then disposing of the body parts near Mililani Mortuary appeared in a Hawaii courtroom for the first time Monday morning, albeit from Oahu Community Correctional Center by videoconference.

Bryan Suitt, 46, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. He remains in protective custody at OCCC in lieu of $5 million bail.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment last November charging Suitt with killing Alex Gonzales. 

The court filed the indictment under seal pending Suitt’s arrest. The indictment remains under seal and is filed under the name John Doe.

The U.S. Marshal Service arrested Suitt in San Diego on Dec. 2 at his family’s residence on Coronado Island. 

Suitt spend the next three months unsuccessfully fighting extradition to Hawaii. Honolulu police returned him to Oahu last Wednesday.

A couple looking for recyclables in a trash can on Mililani Memorial Park Road found parts of Gonzales’s body in a bag on Sept. 15. Police found other body parts in a ravine nearby.