ELYRIA — The day Diane Utsey-Henderson was killed took center stage Tuesday as the murder trial of her ex-boyfriend, Rennell Malone, began.

Defense attorney Kenneth Ortner attacked Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus’ finding that Utsey-Henderson died at 3 a.m. on June 15, 2001.

Matus had originally determined that she had likely died on June 14 after being beaten in the head by a heavy curved object and then stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen. The 44-year-old bled to death from her injuries, he testified Tuesday.

Malone, 47, has maintained his innocence in the murder. He wasn’t charged with the crime until 2006.

Matus said he partially relied on the accounts of workers power washing Utsey-Henderson’s Amherst Avenue home who said they had seen her on June 14. But he later learned they had last seen her alive on June 13.

That pushed back the timeframe in which she could have been killed, Matus testified.

“Determination of date of death is a very inexact science,” he said.

Fixing the time of death — Ohio law requires that a time and date be specified in a death certificate — is hard to do, Matus said, particularly when the body is in a hot, closed-up home as Utsey-Henderson’s was.

Matus said he recalled sweating as he examined the body at the scene and described the house as “humid and incredibly hot.”

Utsey-Henderson’s body was discovered June 15 by Lorain police, who were called to the home by her sister after she noticed the house appeared to have been robbed. Prosecutors believe the scene was staged to appear as if a robbery had taken place.

While her body didn’t appear to have begun to decompose at the scene, by the time Matus conducted an autopsy on June 16 he said there were definite signs of decomposition.

But Ortner asked if Matus was so certain that the death now could have occurred on June 14, why he hadn’t changed the death certificate.

Matus said that’s not something coroners do without good reason. He said he wanted to hear the testimony in the trial before making a change. He also said that he would have preferred to have put a range of time on when Utsey-Henderson died, but state law requires an exact time and date of death.

Ortner also suggested that Matus worked “hand-in-hand” with prosecutors on the case. Matus replied that he worked not only with prosecutors and police but also with the public and defense attorneys.

“Now doctor, you know that’s mistaken, you don’t work hand-in-hand with me,” Ortner replied.

Also taking the stand Tuesday was James “Poochie” Williams, a 73-year-old retired Ford worker, who had been dating Utsey-Henderson before she died.

Williams said he last saw Utsey-Henderson late June 13 or early June 14 when they sat on the hood of his 1988 Lincoln Towncar and drank Tanqueray. He said Malone showed up, which angered Utsey-Henderson, who went inside to call police.

While she was inside, Williams said he asked Malone if he had slashed his tires when he had parked his car on the street outside Utsey-Henderson’s home a few weeks earlier. Malone denied the accusation and left.

Williams said he left a short time later and met up with another woman at a hotel. Before he left for a two-day trip to Columbus with that woman, Williams said he drove by Utsey-Henderson’s house around noon on June 14 and noticed her car was still in the garage.

He said he stopped and knocked on the door but got no answer.

He said he didn’t learn about Utsey-Henderson’s death until after his wife told him police were looking for him when he returned from Columbus.

The trial, which county Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski is hearing instead of a jury, resumes today.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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