CLEARWATER, Fla. — The 23-year-old man arrested and charged nearly two weeks ago in the death of a former Sun Journal page designer remained in jail as of Sunday evening.

Thomas Hampton Frederick is being held without bond at the Pinellas County Jail in Florida. He was charged July 25 with murder in the stabbing death of Adrianne Robert, 29, who grew up in Greene.

An employee with the jail’s Inmate Records Department said Frederick made his initial court appearance July 26 via video in Pinellas County Criminal Court. At that time, Frederick was presented with the charges, which include first-degree murder and grand theft auto, and bail was set by the judge.

According to the department, bail on the grand theft auto charge was set at $5,000, but no bail was set for the first-degree murder charge, meaning Frederick remains behind bars. The jail employee said a second court appearance for the suspect has not yet been scheduled.

Robert was discovered by her roommate about 3:30 a.m. July 14 in the apartment the two shared at 2958 Pinecone Circle, No. 54, in unincorporated Clearwater. Police were tight-lipped about the investigation in the weeks following her death as they mounted a case against Frederick that included DNA evidence taken from a cigarette he threw out a car window on his way to work.

The Leavitt Area High School graduate worked at the Sun Journal as a page designer after graduating from the University of Maine at Augusta and lived in Lewiston before moving to Florida in 2007.

Robert and Frederick did not know each other prior to the crime, which made the case that much more alarming for authorities.

Authorities reported that Robert and her male roommate, Jay Leffue, went to a strip club about a mile from their apartment the night before her killing. It was there the two struck up a conversation with Frederick, who had been lingering in the bar area since late afternoon.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the media following Frederick’s arrest that Robert left the bar alone about 1:30 a.m. and planned to walk home. A surveillance camera captured images of Robert leaving the club alone before a man ran up to give her a black shawl she left on a chair. The man on the video was later determined to be Frederick.

ahannon@sunjournal.com