PORTLAND – A Rockport man charged with murder in the beating death of his live-in girlfriend entered no plea at his first court appearance Monday.

David Haraden was charged Friday with the murder of 35-year-old Maxine Witham. She was discovered dead last week in a 12th-floor room at the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland, where the couple had been staying.

Police said the two shared a home in Rockport.

Haraden did not enter a plea at Monday’s proceeding in Portland District Court, where the judge scheduled a bail hearing for Wednesday. According to an affidavit, Haraden told police another man beat Witham – but he gave police two different versions of what happened.

Haraden is a martial arts expert who had abused Witham before, police said. He was charged with assaulting her in 2003, but the case was dropped after she refused to testify, according to Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood.

Haraden was being held in the Cumberland County Jail on a probation violation before the murder charge was filed Friday.