Truck driver Dragan Paravinja told a Sibenik County Court investigating judge on Saturday that he had not killed 17-year-old Antonia Bilic and did not know where she was, his court-appointed lawyer Branko Baica said.
Baica told reporters that Paravinja described his movements on June 7 and 8, when the girl disappeared, adding that police now needed to verify his statement.
Paravinja remains in custody pending completion of the investigation, and the court will continue to hear evidence on Monday.
When asked if a request had been made to expand the investigation, Baica said that investigating judge Igor Ninic would decide on that early next week. He added that he would be able to give more details only after he was granted access to the case file on Monday.
Antonia Bilic, an underage girl from the village of Kricke near Drnis, was last seen on the morning of June 7 entering a truck driven by the convicted rapist Paravinja, who stopped to give her a lift. He was later arrested in Banja Luka, Bosnia and-Herzegovina, where he admitted to the police that he had strangled the girl and dumped her body into the River Krka. He, however, retracted his statement before the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming that it was extorted by beatings.
The Bosnian authorities on Friday temporarily extradited Paravinja to Croatia where he is suspected of the murder of Antonia Bilic and the attempted rape of a girl near Omis.
