The murder trial of a Meta man accused of killing his girlfriend in June 2010 in Maries County began Monday in Texas County on a change of venue.
Terry G. Fritz, 43, is charged with one count each of first degree- murder and armed criminal action in the death of Kinga Gillibrand.
Fritz is representing himself and has dismissed his attorney.
"I am very thankful that this trial is finally taking place," said Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman. "I believe the prosecution has a very strong case. This has been very costly to the county considering it has been four years."
The trail is expected to be over at the end of this week.
In testimony during a preliminary hearing in Maries County in Sept. 2010, a forensic pathologist from Farmington, Dr. Russell Deidiker examined evidence in the case for Maries County authorities.
He said the amount of blood found in the bedroom of the rural Meta home that Fritz and Gillibrand shared, along with the lack of a blood trail from that room, led him to conclude that she was killed in that room and the case is a homicide.
Missouri Highway Patrol experts testified they found small blood splats on some pictures in the bedroom and that, in looking at those and the wall where the photos were hung, it appeared that the wall had been cleaned.
While tests by the patrol could not determine if the blood found in the room was Gillibrand's, a private lab in Columbia said it determined that blood found on the bed was hers.
The lab said its findings used DNA taken from Gillibrand's father and son.
Recordings of two calls between the Rolla 911 center and Fritz also were played. Officials made the calls after they found Gillibrand's purse in a Dumpster in Rolla.
In the calls, the voice identified as Fritz told authorities he had seen Gillibrand on the morning of June 8, 2010 and that she was OK.
He also told authorities that Gillibrand intentionally had changed the pass code on her cell phone, because they had been going through some problems.
Fritz said on the call the problems were over money and that Gillibrand owed the IRS over $38,000.
Fritz also said he didn't think she was in any danger and that she was a free spirit. Fritz 's mother, Carol Leick, testified they were on vacation the last time she talked with Gillibrand.
Leick said Gillibrand had been dealing with depression issues.