Kidnapping suspect being held in Florida without bond

HOMOSASSA, Fla. -- A registered sex offender who authorities say confessed to kidnapping and slaying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford returned to Florida Sunday and was held without bond.\nJohn Evander Couey was booked early Sunday on a probation violation and failure to register as a sex offender, according to officials.\nCouey, 46, confessed to kidnapping and killing Jessica after taking a lie-detector test Friday in Georgia, officials said. The girl's body was found early Saturday, more than three weeks after she disappeared from her bedroom.\nHe has not been charged in her death, although that move was expected soon.\n"If he's not charged today, he probably will be tomorrow," sheriff's spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan told The Associated Press. "It shouldn't take that long."\nIn a brief appearance Sunday morning before Circuit Judge Stephen Spivey at the Citrus County Detention Center, Couey -- looking tired and wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles -- was declared indigent and was told a public defender would be assigned to his case.\nHe answered that he was doing "all right," when Spivey asked how he was. Couey answered all other questions with either "Yes, sir" or "No, sir" replies.\nAt the end of the hearing, Spivey wished the man luck. "Thank you," Couey said softly, before turning and shuffling away, his shackles clanging together.\nJessica, a third grader, was last seen in February when she went to bed after attending church. She was discovered missing the next morning, with the door unlocked and her stuffed animal gone. The clothes she had laid out for school were still in place, and her shoes weren't missing.\nHer body was found near a mobile home where Couey had been staying at the time of the abduction about 150 yards from Jessica's house.\nCouey's half-sister and two others who lived in the home were charged with obstructing police for failing to notify authorities when Couey allegedly told them he had committed a crime.\nCouey was arrested in Augusta, Ga., on a probation violation for failing to notify officials that he was leaving Florida, a requirement for sex offenders.\nHe has an extensive criminal record that includes 24 burglary arrests, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. In 1991, he was arrested in Kissimmee, Fla. on a charge of fondling a child under age 16. Records don't show how the case was resolved.\nDuring a house burglary in 1978, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said. Couey was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was paroled in 1980.\nOn Saturday, about 300 people jammed the Living Water Church near Lebanon, Ohio, to show their support for Angela and Lonnie Bryant, Jessica's mother and stepfather.\n"To see all of you people here puts a little bit in my heart -- and my heart is so empty," Angela Bryant said. She tried to talk to reporters but broke down and rushed from the building.