The Latest: Virginia girl's mom testifies at murder trial

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The Latest on the murder trial of a former Virginia Tech student charged with killing a 13-year-old girl (all times local):

3:55 p.m.

The mother of a 13-year-old Virginia girl who was stabbed to death has described how she discovered her daughter was missing.

Tammy Weeks was the first witness called by prosecutors in the trial of David Eisenhauer, a former Virginia Tech student accused of killing Nicole Lovell in 2016.

Weeks said she went to her daughter's bedroom and found a nightstand pushed up against the door and her window open. She said she immediately started calling her daughter's friends, then drove to the police station.

When a prosecutor asked Weeks when was the next time she saw her daughter, she replied: "In her coffin."

Prosecutors say Eisenhauer killed Lovell because he was afraid his relationship with the underage girl would be exposed.

During opening statements Tuesday, Eisenhauer's lawyer tried to shift the blame to his accomplice, Natalie Keepers, who was also a Virginia Tech student.

Keepers faces a separate trial in September on charges of being an accessory and concealing a body.

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2:05 p.m.

A lawyer for a former Virginia Tech student accused of killing a 13-year-old girl told jurors it was his accomplice who was "deeply motivated" to kill the girl.

David Eisenhauer is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Nicole Lovell, a middle school student from Blacksburg.

During opening statements Tuesday at Eisenhauer's trial, a prosecutor told jurors he killed her because he was worried his relationship with the underage girl would get him in trouble.

But Eisenhauer's lawyers tried to shift the jury's focus to Natalie Keepers, Eisenhauer's friend and classmate at Virginia Tech. Attorney John Lichtenstein told jurors Keepers has a history of mental illness, a fascination with knives, and was "exhilarated" and "excited" when she discussed killing Lovell with Eisenhauer.

Keepers told police she was not present for the killing. She faces a separate trial in September on charges of being an accessory before the fact and concealing a body.

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1:35 p.m.

A prosecutor has told jurors that a former Virginia Tech student made a "secret date" with a 13-year-old girl and stabbed her 14 times and cut her throat because he was worried about his relationship with the underage girl.

During opening statements Tuesday at the murder trial of David Eisenhauer, Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt told jurors that Eisenhauer had been communicating online with Nicole Lovell for months before he killed her in 2016.

Pettitt said the 18-year-old Eisenhauer had met Lovell at least once before she climbed out her bedroom window to meet him in January 2016. She said he left her in the woods, in the snow, to die after he stabbed her.

Another Virginia Tech student, Natalie Keepers told police Eisenhauer claimed he met Lovell at a party and may have had sex with her, but could not remember because he blacked out.

Keepers has been charged as an accessory and is scheduled to go on trial in September.

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7:15 a.m.

Two years after the killing of a 13-year-old girl, jurors in the murder trial of a former Virginia Tech student are expected to hear details of her death.

Opening statements are scheduled Tuesday afternoon in the trial of David Eisenhauer. The former engineering student is accused of stabbing Nicole Lovell and slitting her throat after she climbed out her bedroom window to meet him.

Prosecutors say Lovell and Eisenhauer had developed a relationship through Kik, an instant messaging app.

Natalie Keepers, also an engineering student at Virginia Tech, told police Eisenhauer claimed he met Lovell at a party and may have had sex with her, but could not remember because he blacked out.

Keepers has been charged as an accessory and is scheduled to go on trial in September.