A woman found dead in the shallows of Sydney's Parramatta River is being remembered as a "bright star" as the man allegedly found standing naked over her body appeared in court.
Khanh Thanh Ly, who was a friend of executed Bali Nine drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran, did not apply for bail when he appeared in the Parramatta Local Court via video on Saturday accused of the murder of Miming Listiyani.
The 35-year-old was taken into custody after allegedly being found with the 27-year-old woman's also naked body in about a foot of water near the Cabarita Wharf before midnight on Thursday.
Friends and loved ones have been sharing the news on social media and posting messages of grief in English and Indonesian.
"Tonight the sky has darken (sic), cos a bright star has vanished," one person wrote on Instagram.
Ms Listiyani's body was pulled from the water with cuts to the face and other injuries and nearby residents described hearing screams before Ly's arrest.
Police say they don't think it was a random attack and the pair may know each other.
They told reporters they were investigating whether the woman was killed in the water or elsewhere but in court documents they allege she was slain in Cabarita.
Divers have investigated near where the body was found, while officers canvassed Cabarita Park and at a cordoned-off area at nearby Breakfast Point, around a house in Vineyard Way.
Bloodstains were washed from the footpath and a car in the street before police reopened it to residents.
The Vineyard Way house is less than 2km from the wharf car park where an Audi was seized on Friday.
Ly's case is listed for mention at Central Local Court next month.
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