EDITOR'S NOTE: News 6 initially reported that Keravuori’s defense asserted that Hilliard and Keravuori met for a sexual encounter. That information was incorrect. We retract that statement, and the story has since been updated to reflect that the defense did not make that assertion.
A Brevard County judge denied a bail request for a 19-year-old man accused of stabbing a man to death inside a Cocoa motel room.
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At a hearing Monday, prosecutors called several witnesses to the stand.
For a person to be denied bail in Florida, the state must prove that the presumption is great that the person committed the crime.
Prosecutors said Joshua Keravuori, 19, stabbed Terry Hilliard nearly 20 times in February at the Dixie Motel on Forrest Avenue.
Hilliard was visiting Brevard County from Marion County for the SpaceX Falcon Heavy test flight on Feb. 6 when he was stabbed to death in a Cocoa motel room, according to the arrest warrant.
Hilliard, 65, told his wife he watched the launch, but because of traffic he was going to stay at a motel in Brevard County and drive home the next morning, Cocoa police said.
According to investigators, Hilliard picked up the 19-year-old while he was hitchhiking.
Detectives said after the killing, Keravuori stole Hilliard's watch, wedding ring, wallet, cellphone, pistol and car.
Keravuori was on the run for days before turning himself in to police in Alpharetta, Georgia, according to authorities.
Police said Keravuori told them he attacked Hilliard after the man attempted to rape him.
At Monday's hearing, the judge heard from the owner of the Dixie Motel, as well as two Cocoa police detectives and a crime scene technician. The Brevard County medical examiner was scheduled to testify in the afternoon.
The court saw 15 autopsy photos showing 27 stab wounds the medical examiner said Hilliard suffered along with blunt force trauma to his head.
Defense lawyers argued that because Hilliard was drunk he could have fell in the hotel room and hit his head.
"In his obviously, visibly, intoxicated state, him falling would be a possibility," Keravuori's attorney Ernest Chang said.
Police said a murder weapon was not found.