PALATKA, Fla. -- A 15-year-old girl once the focus of a nationwide Amber Alert appeared in court Wednesday on charges she killed a Melrose man before fleeing the state with her boyfriend.

Morgan Leppert was initially reported as missing, then became the subject of a nationwide Amber Alert when she was seen in a pickup truck stolen from James Stewart after he was found dead in his Melrose home. Putnam County deputies also found Stewart's phone number during a review of her recent cell phone calls.

Three days after she and her boyfriend, Toby Lowry, 22, were picked up panhandling in El Paso, Texas, they were both charged with murder and extradited to Florida.

"I ain't got nothing to say," Leppert told Channel 4's Laura Mazzeo as deputies escorted the shackled teenager out of the courthouse after a status hearing.

She did not appear in court last month when she was arraigned. Her attorney entered a plea of not guilty.

Putnam County Sheriff Dean Kelly has said that Leppert acted as the ruse to get into Stewart's home after she and Lowry cased the man's home and learned he had trouble hearing.

Kelly said the pair wanted to steal Stewart's truck and killed him to get it.

Investigators said Stewart was beaten with two metal rods, stabbed several times and suffocated with a plastic bag.

After the hearing, Leppert's older brother, Howard Hunt, told Channel 4 that the lawyers do not want him speaking with the media, but that he stands by his previous statement.

Last month, Hunt said the family tried to get Lepper to end her relationship with Lowry when they learned he was much older than her and had a criminal record.

"My sister is young. She is the type to be easily manipulated. I don't think that she was there when allegedly the murder took place," Hunt said the day murder charges were announced against his sister.

Because of her age, Leppert will not face a death penalty if she is convicted.

Lowry is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder, auto theft, interference with custody and panhandling.

A status hearing in his case is scheduled for Thursday, but prosecutors said his appearance was waved. The state could seek the death penalty against Lowry.