DeAndre Booker was charged with first-degree premeditated murder Friday morning in Roseville district court for the presumed death of his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Elkins.

Roseville police Det. Sgt. Anthony Coraci told Judge Alyia Hakim of 39th District Court that Elkins’ DNA matches “a substantial amount of blood” found by police in the bathroom of Booker’s Roseville apartment. Police had been waiting for lab results blood testing by Michigan State Police.

Hakim ordered Booker, 32, to be held without bond. He had been held on a lying to police charge and was charged Friday with three more lesser offenses related to the investigation.

Maurice Morton, Elkins’ uncle and family spokesman, said after he and up to 20 other family members attended Booker’s arraignment that it was “a very tough day, very emotional to hear the charges that were levied.”

“The hardest part is hearing the charges because you then start to visualize and picture what occurred, and that is very difficult,” Morton said.

He said the charges do not provide the family with “complete closure” but a “journey to justice.”

“This is where it starts,” Morton said. “That’s what the family wants. We want justice in this case.”

Elkins, 32, of Warren, was last seen Jan. 2 and reported missing Jan. 3. Coraci said after Elkins was missing, Booker was seen leaving his complex with Elkins’ vehicle with a female and later returned without the vehicle. The unidentified female was “unwitting, not involved,” Roseville Police Chief Mitch Berlin said.

Booker was arrested Jan. 8 in Flint for lying to police.

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said he believes the team of assistant Macomb prosecutor Carmen DeFranco and Carrie Steward can achieve justice in the case without a body. He noted there have been four prior murder convictions of defendants in the county despite the victim’s body not being found.

But Lucido said he is “hopeful” and “optimistic” police will find out what happened to her body.

He and Berlin said more evidence will be presented at a later date, and the investigation is continuing.

Morton said the family “has nothing but accolades” for law enforcement officials investigating the case though it was frustrating early in the investigation before charges were brought. He noted it has been four weeks since his niece was reported missing.

“We appreciate it,” Morton said. “We know there’s a lot of families that don’t get this amount of attention, whether it’s from media or law enforcement. They should get this attention.”

After Booker was arrested, police said they found he had conducted computer searches on topics such as fastest routes from Flint to Ohio, what to do while on the run, is blood traceable and how to beat a polygraph test. He also attempted to delete his Google search history.

Earlier this month, investigators searched his apartment at Hampton Court Apartments near Frahzo and Gratiot after learning Elkins’ cellphone pinged at that location. Significant evidence was recovered at the apartment complex, according to authorities.

Police seized a trash dumpster from the complex. Trash inside of it was eventually emptied into the Pine Tree Acres landfill on 29 Mile Road in Lenox Township. Officers from 15 law enforcement agencies spent last week combing through a section of the landfill searching for evidence.

Berlin said officers felt “very defeated” after not locating more direct evidence or Elkins’ remains in the landfill. Still, though, he said other potential evidence retrieved from the landfill is still being reviewed.

Booker’s attorney, Robbie Lang, during the hearing asked for a bond, noting Booker has no prior criminal convictions and has ties to the area.

Hakim could order no bond for the time being on the basis of the seriousness of the offense and flight risk.

In addition to first-degree murder and lying to police, Booker is charged with disinternment or mutilation of a body, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of an individual.

The presumed death of Elkins has left her two sons, aged 7 and 10, without their mother, Morton said while seated next to Elkins’ mother, Monika, at the press conference in the police station.

“They are having nightmares,” Morton said. “The youngest doesn’t quite comprehend this and what’s going on. So it’s going to take a village to wrap around them and support them. But this is tough. We can imagine that going through the court process of the next few months or year or so, it’s going to be even tougher.”

He described Ahsley as a “beautiul young lady,” a mother, part of a suppotive family and, as described by her mother, the “life of the party.”

“You have two young boys out there who don’t have a mother,” Morton said. “So the community should feel for those children. She has a mother here, a sister. She has siblings, a full family, a wealth of community members, supporters, friends who loved her tremendously.

“Everyone loved her and cared for her, and she cared for them. She’s a mom who fought, cared for and took care of her children, and that’s what he took away.”

Booker is scheduled to face a Feb. 5 probable cause conference over Zoom and a Feb. 12 preliminary examination in front of Judge Joseph Boedeker in district court, although the second hearing more than likely will be pushed back to a later date.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory penalty of life without parole.