An older mugshot of Munn from the Halifax County Sheriff's Office.

District Attorney Mike Waters told Judge Carolyn Thompson Munn’s attorney, Boyd Sturges, could not be at court today.

Sturges is a private attorney who is on the capital defenders list.

Waters said after the appearance the other man charged in Alford’s death following a March 9 home invasion at her Lake Gaston home, Lester Kearney, is scheduled for his first appearance next Wednesday.

Thompson did not allow cameras in her court this morning.

Asked whether there was any evidence that would suggest Munn or Kearney, or any of their family members ever received counseling from Alford, Waters said records of who she counseled would be protected and sealed.

The two men were arrested last week, Kearney in Roanoke Rapids last Wednesday, and Munn in Warren County the night before.

Thus far they face first-degree murder charges in Alford’s death.

Alford, 76, was kidnapped and robbed, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office has previously said.

The sheriff’s office said two masked intruders invaded the home on Mulberry Court.

One of the intruders drove Alford to an undisclosed State Employees' Credit Union branch in Roanoke Rapids and forced her to withdraw money from an ATM, while the second intruder stayed in the home with her husband, John, the sheriff’s office said.

Mrs. Alford was driven back to the house on Lake Gaston, where the intruders beat her husband before setting fire to the house while the Alfords were tied up inside.