CANTON, Ohio (AP) _ A former police officer picked up a longtime friend early one morning last summer then told her the body of his son’s pregnant mother was in the back of the truck they were riding in, the woman testified Tuesday.

Bobby Cutts Jr. looked nervous that day, like she’d never seen him before, Myisha Ferrell testified during Cutts’ capital murder trial. He is accused of strangling Jessie Marie Davis, who was pregnant with his child.

"He said something was wrong. Something bad," said Ferrell, a key prosecution witness.

After Cutts told Ferrell the body was in his truck bed, she asked him what happened.

"He just said he kind of used his arm," said Ferrell, then held up her right arm at the level of her neck, re-enacting what Cutts demonstrated for her.

Prosecutors say Cutts, who was feeling the pressure of his crumbling marriage, financial debt and supporting several children, strangled Davis in her home and disposed of her body with Ferrell.

On cross examination, defense attorney Myron Watson asked Ferrell if Cutts had ever been violent or used his position as a police officer to intimidate anyone. She said he hadn’t.

Cutts, 30, a former Canton patrolman, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and other charges in the death of Davis and her female fetus. Thousands searched for Davis in the area surrounding her northeast Ohio home in the days she was missing after her June death.

Defense attorneys say there is no evidence linking Cutts to the murder.