Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of Darrell Lynn Tipton, the man accused of beating a Springfield woman in the head with a skillet and stabbing her in June 2005.

Tipton, 51, is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.

Though his alleged victim, 38-year-old Cindy Ann Coop-Trent, died, medical examiners were unable to pinpoint a cause of death. An autopsy found she had potentially lethal levels in her system of fluoxetine, a drug commercially marketed as Prozac.

Because of this, Tipton doesn't face a murder charge even though prosecutors contend he stabbed Coop-Trent in the back and beat her in the head with a skillet on June 16, 2005.

The mother of three was found in her home, 1021 E. Blaine St., four days after the alleged attack.

In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors laid out the evidence against Tipton. That includes the man's alleged admission to the crimes to fellow inmates in the Greene County Jail.

Defense attorney Stuart Huffman argued that evidence would not be sufficient.

"We believe when you see the whole picture, when you use common sense, that Mr. Tipton was not the one who assaulted Mrs. Coop-Trent," Huffman said.

On the stand Tuesday, the victim's son, 20-year-old Jeff Coop, recalled how he was unable to get in touch with Coop-Trent for several days before her body was found.

Worried, he told his grandmother of his mother's absence, and the woman convinced Realtor Kirk Heyle, the victim's landlord, to let her into the home.

"I did take one step into the living room and looked hard to my right," Heyle testified. "I was kind of halfway in shock, but I did see the body of Mrs. Trent on the floor face down."

Prosecutors also played a tape of Heyle's subsequent call to 911.

Tipton left the area after Coop-Trent's death. He was arrested months later at his mother's house in Tennessee, after attempting to flee in a car authorities said contained a rifle, a pistol, two knives and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.