DURHAM, N.C. — A judge denied bond for a man accused of killing a Duke University employee.

Thomas Pitt, who appeared in court Monday, is charged with killing Curt Blackman, who was found stabbed to death in his apartment in May. According to an arrest warrant, Blackman was killed two days before investigators found him.

Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn told the judge that Blackman had been found tied up, gagged and blindfolded. She also told the judge that Pitt confessed to the crime.

Pitt and Blackman had some kind of relationship, investigators said, but they would not elaborate on what that relationship is.

In addition to murder, Pitt is charged with possession of stolen goods. Investigators said Pitt broke into Blackman's apartment and killed him. They said he also went to a pawn shop and sold a digital camera and a DVD player he had stolen from Blackman's apartment.

Pitt does have a prior criminal record. He was convicted of simple assault on a female in Lenoir County and was put on probation.

The district attorney's office is waiting for some test results from the State Bureau of Investigation before they decide if this is a first-degree murder or capital case. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for later in June.