By james art Jamie Tsewi Chapman, 34, did not enter a plea during his court appearance on Friday and his lawyer did not ask for bail.
The judge adjourned the case until January to allow time for further investigation.
Chapman and his wife, a Hong Kong resident, were arrested on Tuesday when they returned to the city from mainland China.
His wife was detained on suspicion of assisting an offender before being released on bail pending further enquiries, police said on Thursday.
Police said Chapman and the Indonesian woman went together to a waterfall in a park on Hong Kong Island on Sunday night.
He left after about half an hour. Residents spotted the woman’s body in the pond below the falls on Monday morning, police said.
She was hit in the head and drowned.
Mevi Novitasari, who is about 25 years old, was a domestic helper in Hong Kong but did not work for the suspect, police said.
She was from Chilakap in Central Java province, Indonesia’s Juda Nugraha, director of the protection of Indonesian citizens and legal entities, said.
Her employment agency and the Indonesian consulate will arrange the repatriation of her body, and the consulate general will continue to monitor the investigation, he said.