ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A suspect in the disappearance of a priest from St. Johns County was arrested in Aiken, South Carolina, early Thursday morning and will be extradited back to Florida.
Steven Murray, 28, was booked into the Aiken County Jail shortly after 1 a.m.
Aiken is located just outside Augusta, Georgia.
Murray appeared nonchalant at an extradition hearing in Aiken on Thursday afternoon. He smiled and waved at news cameras before leaving the courtroom.
During the hearing, Murray asked the judge how police could say the person in the car who fled police was him. The judge said he couldn't answer that.
Before signing the extradition papers that will bring him back to St. Johns County, Murray said, "Let's ride!"
WATCH: Suspect in priest's disappearance smiles at cameras
Murray is charged with aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude police. He has not been charged in the disappearance of Father Rene Robert from St. Augustine.
St. Johns County deputies suspect foul play in the disappearance of Robert, who was last seen about 1 p.m. Sunday, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
Capturing a fugitive
A woman in South Carolina said she recognized Murray when he knocked on her door just after midnight Thursday, telling her and her husband to let him in.
“It was like 12:15, maybe a little later last night,” Sandra “Charlie” Ford said. “We got a knock on the door. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ But my husband -- nobody ever bothers us around here -- so my husband automatically went to the door to open the door, and I looked out -- something kept telling me to look out the window -- and I looked out the window right here and I saw him. And I was like, ‘Oh my God! That is the guy that is on the news.’ I said, 'Do not open that door.' And he was telling us to let him in. And I told my husband, 'Do not let him in.' So we called the cops and the cops came down here.”
WATCH: Video of Murray's arrest in South Carolina
Murray was arrested near Ford's home within 10 minutes of her call at the intersection of Nautilus Road and Crab Trail. He had crashed a car belonging to Robert, 71, in the woods nearby after being spotted by deputies in South Carolina. In a photo provided by WRDW, Murray can be seen smiling as he is taken away after his capture.
St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar said there were multiple weapons in the abandoned Toyota, which was found not far from where Murray was hiding from police. Shoar, who personally knows Robert, said that was very troubling to him.
"He threatened to kill as many cops as he could, and when you're out there in the middle of the woods and you've got a guy that's in there with rifles and scopes, it's certainly not a great position to be in," Shoar said. "But Aiken County did a tremendous job."
Shoar said Thursday that his department has many resources searching for Robert, who is considered endangered, so if he's not found quickly, it's not from lack of trying.
"All indications are that the ending of this may not be what we all kind of hope and pray that it would be," Shoar said. "Obviously, the suspect is in custody, and so we are doing everything we can to narrow down timelines and get the timelines down very narrow, because there's a lot of real estate between here and Aiken County South Carolina."
According to the sheriff’s office, detectives from St. Johns County, along with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office are now searching for any clues in Aiken into Robert's disappearance.
Robert's blue 2012 Toyota four-door with a Florida Special Olympics tag of SBA594 was discovered in Aiken about 8 p.m. Wednesday, Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan told News4Jax.
Mulligan said Robert had been helping Murray, who was recently released from jail.
The mug shot provided after Murray's arrest was his eighth mug shot on file with the Aiken County Detention Center. He's been arrested numerous times since 2005 on charges including larceny, violation of probation and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Murray's father, Bobby James Murray, 53, was arrested Wednesday in Jacksonville for indecent exposure. He is accused of masturbating in a pool lounge chair with several children swimming nearby, police said.
Manhunt in missing priest case
Robert's Toyota was spotted Tuesday night after the priest was reported missing, Mulligan said Wednesday. Deputies attempted to pull the driver over on State Road 207, but he refused to stop and led them on a high-speed chase into Jacksonville. Officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office took over the chase, but lost the car in heavy traffic in construction zones near I-95 and JTB, Mulligan said.
"We've got to make judgments to what extent we expose the public to risks," Shoar said. "At that point, the night of that chase, the information was just breaking. I don't think they called it off. He just kind of disappeared in that construction up there, and they just never found him again after that."
Deputies believe the driver was Murray, who lives in Jacksonville.
Murray was not in Robert's car when it was found in Aiken Wednesday evening, but deputies with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, SWAT teams, bloodhounds and the U.S. marshals were called to search the area for Murray.
Detectives from the JSO seen at the Stars Rest Inn on Lane Avenue near I-295 Wednesday evening said they were there as part of the investigation into Robert's disappearance. The Westside hotel is one of the addresses police had listed for Murray.
JSO said the detectives were responding to reports Murray might have been recently seen at the hotel.
A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told News4Jax she recently saw Murray.
"I seen him a couple a day ago walking down the road," she said.
The woman said she couldn't believe Murray would be involved in something like this.
"He didn't seem like the type of person who would do that. He and his girls are real sweet," she said.
Murray was released from Duval County Jail on April 6 after being arrested in March for failure to appear in court for a traffic citation.
He was previously charged in Duval County with failure to appear in 2015 and with burglary, dealing in stolen property and giving false information to a pawn shop in 2012.
Neighbors worried about missing priest
A post on Robert's Facebook page on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. said he was visiting a friend at the Orange Park Medical Center. Shoar said their are indications Robert did visit someone at the hospital, but the timeline after that is what deputies are working to piece together.
One woman on Facebook commented that he was supposed to perform a funeral for her grandfather Tuesday night and also missed a prayer service Monday.
Robert was reported missing Tuesday afternoon, and deputies performed a welfare check at his home and found nothing suspicious, Mulligan said. Church officials later called to report Robert missing an appointment, which escalated the case further, Mulligan said.
"Well, he's 71-years-old. When they become elderly, the first thought was, was it health related?" said Kathleen Bagg, director of communications for the Diocese of St. Augustine. "We're just very concerned."
Investigators said it's uncharacteristic of Robert to leave without telling anyone he would be gone.
"Saturday afternoon I saw Father Rene out here speaking with the neighbors. Then I believe it was Sunday evening that the Sheriff's Department started looking," neighbor Scott Chipman said. "I noticed sheriff's cars out here then. Then Monday they came up asking me if I'd seen him. Normally he tells me when he goes out of town for a day or three days or a week. That's pretty much all I know."
Robert is described as a 5-foot-8 white man. He wears eyeglasses.
Robert's house was blocked off with crime scene tape on Wednesday and the windows and doors were secured. A note tucked under a cross on his front door read, "Call me ASAP. Everyone is looking for you."
"I know his medications were still there," Chipman said. "His ice pack for his back was still laying in the bed. There was a half-eaten sandwich on the counter, and a drink sitting there, just left there. I mean it doesn't look good to me."
A vigil will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the cross in St. Augustine. Organizers are asking people to wear sandals and bring candles.
Anyone with information on Robert's whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff's Office at 904-824-8304.