A preliminary hearing for a Birmingham man charged with killing a Morris woman has been continued until May 2.

Charles Jordan appeared before Jefferson District Court Judge Shelley Watkins on Friday morning, in his first court appearance since his arrest. That appearance was brief, as Watkins continued the proceeding to allow Jordan time to hire counsel.

Jordan, 38, is charged with capital murder in the death of Patricia Jordan, whom police investigators charge that Jordan killed in March, then stuffed her body into a plastic container. The container was found Sunday sitting beside a dumpster in back of an apartment house on Birmingham’s Southside.

Police believe that Jordan and McCain slept together, then had an altercation the following morning in which they say Jordan killed McCain. They further assert that Jordan put her body into the container and kept it in his apartment bathroom for some time, then had a friend take it out to the dumpster to be picked up. The friend became suspicious, opened the container and saw the body.

Medical examiners had to use fingerprints to identify the remains of the 61-year-old McCain, who had not been reported as missing. They had fingerprints from McCain on file due to previous bad-check convictions.