The Vancouver police's sole suspect in the death of a Japanese student made his first court appearance on Monday, facing a judge for a few minutes before heading back into custody.

Dressed in a red prison jumpsuit with his hands handcuffed to his belt, William Victor Schneider watched as his duty counsel told the provincial judge he did not yet have a lawyer.

Schneider, who was arrested in Vernon last week, was granted a two-week delay to give him enough time to find a representative.

The 48-year-old has been charged with indignity to a body, in connection with a 30-year-old Japanese student found dead at a Vancouver heritage mansion.

Natsumi Kogawa was in the Vancouver to study English, but was reported missing on Sept. 12. She was last seen by her roommates on Sept. 8. Her body was found at Gabriola House on Davie Street on Wednesday evening.

A growing memorial lies outside the mansion, full of handwritten notes, flowers and stuffed animals left in tribute of the deceased.

"I feel so sad," Ali Baghani told CTV News as he left the memorial. He said he didn't know the victim, but sympathized with her situation.

"I felt so sorry for her… I think she took a leap of faith, but in the wrong person."

Baghani and his wife, Yurika Miyoshi, are together because she came to Vancouver to study English like Kogawa did.

"She took a leap of faith and met me and now we are so happy together, so I felt so connected to her story," Baghani said.

Although details are emerging about Kogawa's life in Vancouver, few details have been released about how she died. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, but police have not provided further information.

Nor have officers revealed much about the only person who has been charged in the case.

Police identified a man seen on surveillance footage walking with Kogawa downtown on the day she disappeared as Schneider, who at that time was referred to as a "person of interest."

He was arrested the day her body was found.

Officials have said very little about the man, but did say he'd been drifting around the province in recent years, and currently has no fixed address.

Records reveal the suspect has faced a litany of other charges since 1998 as well, including break-and-enter, assault with a weapon, and theft. Schneider was also convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to four years in prison.

A former schoolmate told CTV News on Monday that he'd known Schneider as a bully when they went to school in Vernon 30 years ago.

"Those years in elementary and high school were tortuous," Sean Smith said in an interview.

He said some of the friends he keeps in touch with were surprised by the charge, while others were not.

None of the allegations against Schneider have been proven in court.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos