The 22-year-old man accused of murdering Thomas Coombes on a Mt Albert footpath didn't make his first appearance on Monday due to being "acutely unwell".
Police said his body was found by a member of the public on Roy Clements Treeway at 6.45pm last Tuesday.
The crime scene is only metres away from several large Auckland schools.
The police initially put out a public appeal for information, including releasing photos of the accused.
On Monday, at the Auckland District Court, his attendance was excused due to him being "acutely unwell" and he was remanded without entering a plea.
Bail was also not sought, the court heard, but he was granted interim name suppression until his next court appearance on June 15 at the High Court in Auckland.
The family of Coombes, 25, said on Sunday "he was living a happy and beautiful life... [that] was taken from him, and from all of us who love him, in a cruel act of violence".
They described him as "a keen sportsman, with a genuine interest in and love for his family and many friends".
Thomas was walking home from university, where he was studying photography and "following his passion after becoming a qualified builder" when he was attacked, they said.
The maximum penalty for murder is life in prison.
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