SPOKANE, Wash. -

A Spokane jury will hear opening arguments Wednesday morning in Daniel Arteaga's murder trial.

Arteaga is suspected of killing his girlfriend Kim Schmidt inside her north Spokane home on New Year's Eve 2011.

Detectives say Arteaga first drugged Schmidt and then a shot her in the head hoping investigators would think the victim committed suicide.

Spokane County Sheriff's deputies think Arteaga was jealous that Schmidt was rekindling her relationship with her ex-husband.

Arteaga admits being with Schmidt the night she was killed but says he left her very much alive inside her locked north side home.