Murder suspect Hasan in court

Family and friends of a Kitchener woman who was found stabbed to death in her apartment last April finally got a look at her accused killer in handcuffs.

Ager Hasan, who eluded police in the United States for more than two months, made a brief court appearance in Kitchener on Monday after Waterloo Regional Police officers brought him from Texas to Kitchener on Friday.

Hasan, 25, was arrested last summer in San Antonio and extradited back to Canada.

He is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his former girlfriend, Melinda Vasilije. The 22-year-old was found dead on April 28 in her apartment at 38 Country Hill Dr., near Block Line Road. She had multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest.

The day Vasilije was killed, Hasan drove to the United States and remained on the run until July 11 when the U.S. Secret Service arrested him on a tip that he may be involved in counterfeit money. It then took more than five months to extradite the Hamilton man back to Canada.

Handcuffed and wearing a white T-shirt and khaki pants, Hasan stared straight ahead from the prisoner’s box and did not look into the body of the courtroom, where he would have seen Vasilije’s family and friends. He showed no emotion.

Callie Hummel, a Kitchener woman who is best friends with Vasilije’s roommate, was in court for Hasan’s appearance.

Hummel, 24, said outside court that she met Vasilije a few times. “She was very sweet, very selfless. Would do anything for anybody. She would do no harm at all.”

Hasan was ordered held in custody and will next appear in court on Jan. 15 via video link.

Before he was arrested in Texas, Hasan had been spotted in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

In court on Monday, Hasan spoke quietly to a lawyer and spoke out loud once, acknowledging a long list of people he is not allowed to contact.

He was in the courtroom for only 10 minutes.