Melbourne man Luay Sako has been charged with the murder of 23-year-old Celeste Manno in Mernda in Melbourne's north-east.
Mr Sako, 35, was remanded in custody after being represented by his lawyer at an out-of-session court hearing.
Ms Manno was found dead in her Umbria Road home in Mernda shortly after 4:00am on Monday.
Mr Sako, from Roxburgh Park, was arrested by police on Monday and was in hospital under police guard until he was taken in for questioning on Thursday.
His lawyer told the court it was his first time in custody and he had no mental health problems.
Mr Sako did not appear in court himself due to technical issues.
He is due to return to court on April 27 next year.
Ms Manno's boyfriend, Chris Ridsdale, took to social media on Wednesday to pay tribute to her, releasing a photo taken in the days before she died.
"We talked and joked about how this would be the first picture of us together on social media," he said.
Mr Ridsdale said he did not use social media much but posting the photo of her now seems like "the best thing I can do for her".
"To show everyone how much she meant to me and how beautiful she was," he said.
Ms Manno's brother Jayden called the killing a "senseless, unfathomable, evil act".
Her younger brother Alessandro said his sister had been stalked by a man since the start of the year.
Ms Manno's death was a tragically familiar story to those who work in family violence, like Patty Kinnersley, of the group Our Watch.
"We know that Celeste's death is not an isolated incident," she said.
"It's part of a pattern of many kinds of violence against women we know that we have to work together as a country to address those underlying drivers of the violence."
