Jurors sat through sickening testimony Thursday morning as the former girlfriend of murder suspect Edward Timothy Romero described how he insisted she help him clean up the slaying scene and dispose of Alicia Martinez's body.

Francesca Pagliasotti, who lived with Romero, said when she arrived home late on the night of Oct. 22, 2010, Romero told her, " 'I did something bad, I did something bad.' "

He took her to the garage, told her she couldn't scream and led her inside. There, Pagliasotti said, she saw Alicia Martinez lying on a couch, naked, her face covered in blood. She said Romero told her he blacked out and that when he came to, Martinez was dead.

Romero is charged with first- degree murder in the death of the 16-year-old. He has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Romero hadn't met Martinez before Jacquelyn Parea, the mother of one of Martinez's friends, took the 16-year-old with her to a party Oct. 22, 2010, in Romero's garage. Parea and others left the party, leaving Martinez alone in the garage with Romero.

Pagliasotti, who had met Martinez previously, lived with Romero and the couple's two young children in the basement of the northwest Denver home of Romero's grandmother. She was not at home during the party.

Martinez's family members cried, and several jurors put their faces in their hands as Pagliasotti recounted the second time she saw Martinez's body, about an hour after Romero first showed it to her.

Romero asked her to bring trash bags into the garage, and when she did, Pagliasotti said, she saw "Alicia's body was on the floor. Her arms weren't attached anymore," and Romero was in the process of cutting off her left leg with a machete.

Pagliasotti testified that the next morning, Romero had her mop the garage floor, and as she was doing that, she stepped on a shell casing.

"He said it was a good thing I found that," Pagliasotti testified, and said Romero then ordered her to look for the second shell casing.

Later, she testified that Romero had her help him bring Martinez's remains into the basement, where he tried to flush some of them down the toilet.

She testified that Romero found a large blue tub that contained their children's clothes, dumped out the clothes and put the trash bags full of remains inside.

Pagliasotti, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for her role in trying to cover up the crime, also testified that three years before Martinez was killed, Romero saw her going into a liquor store with another man. He then dragged her home, pistol-whipped her, threw her onto the bed and then fired six or seven gunshots into the bed around her, she said.

Pagliasotti's testimony drew numerous objections from Romero's attorney Holly Lucas. She also repeated a request to take more frequent breaks, as one of the therapists who evaulated Romero's mental state had recommended. Lucas said that during Pagliasotti's testimony, Romero had been going "in and out" of a dissociative state.

Denver District Judge William Robbins denied the request, saying the entire trial was bound to be "stressful and unpleasant" for Romero.
