The father of Raymond Clark III spoke out Wednesday in support of his son for the first time since he was charged with the murder of Annie Le GRD ’13 in September.

Clark appeared in Connecticut Superior Court for a brief hearing, in which Judge Roland Fasano continued the case until July 26. In a statement given outside the court after the hearing, Clark’s father, Raymond Clark Jr., called his son “a loving, caring, kind-hearted son, brother, fiance and friend, unlike the picture that has been painted of him.”

Clark’s father was accompanied by his wife, Diane, daughter, Denise, and the defendant’s fiancee, Jennifer Hromadka.

“These have been difficult times, but we have always been, and will continue to be, a strong, loving and supportive family,” Clark’s father said, asking for the family’s wishes and privacy to be respected.

Raymond Clark III, a 25-year-old Yale lab technician, is accused of strangling Le, 24, and has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Le’s body was discovered behind a basement wall in the Yale research facility at 10 Amistad St. in September.

Evidence against the lab technician includes several bloody articles of clothing, and DNA matches provided the evidence to charge Clark, according to court documents.

Meanwhile, a new book coming out this month will use those documents, as well as interviews, to “put forward a lot of theories” about the murder, the book’s author, Stella Sands, told BusinessWeek. The book, “Murder at Yale: The True Story of a Beautiful Grad Student and a Cold-Blooded Crime,” is being published by St. Martin’s Press and is set to be released June 29.

Clark is being held on a $3 million bond.