McCoy was returned to Bossier Parish Wednesday from Idaho, where he was captured last Friday. He had been hitching rides with truck drivers, police said.

McCoy is under suicide watch at the Bossier Parish Maximum Security Facility.

The public defender's office was appointed today to represent McCoy. The brief hearing was done via video hookup between the jail and the Bossier Parish Courthouse.

As he was brought into the jail late Wednesday afternoon, McCoy told waiting reporters he did not kill his estranged wife's parents and her teenage son. He also denied being at their apartment and said he loved them and would never hurt them.

McCoy was in the middle of a divorce from his wife. She had gotten a restraining order after alleging that McCoy had been stalking and threatening her.

McCoy is jailed without bond. The next step in the judicial process will be to present the case to a grand jury for it to decide on formal charges. District Attorney Schuyler Marvin said he plans to seek first-degree murder charges, which carry the possibility of a death sentence.