After weeks of fruitless searching in the forests of Tennessee, authorities found a man accused of stabbing and beating a Springfield woman.

In testimony Wednesday in a Greene County courtroom, witnesses recounted how Darrell Lynn Tipton was taken into custody near Erwin, Tenn., after being lured out of his mother's house by a phone call.

Tipton allegedly fled to Tennessee after attacking Cindy Anne Coop-Trent, 38, with a knife and skillet at her Springfield home in June 2005. The two were acquaintances, and an argument led to the stabbing, authorities say.

Coop-Trent later died, but an autopsy couldn't determine whether it was because of her wounds or an overdose of Prozac, which she took for anxiety.

As a result, Tipton, 51, is not charged with murder. He faces two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.

That last charge is the result of Tipton allegedly pulling a knife on two men in an attempt to get a ride to Joplin after the attack.

On the stand Wednesday morning, the defendant's nephew, Abel Lopez, described how he'd been with Tipton the day he was arrested.

Lopez said he'd just gotten out of the shower when his uncle told him they had to leave.

Tipton was anxious, allegedly, because police had just called the house and said they were coming to get him. He didn't know they'd already surrounded the home.

"As soon as that phone call was made, it was a matter of seconds before he was coming out the back door," said Maj. Ronnie Adkins of the Unicoi County (Tenn.) Sheriff's Department.

"He was carrying a bag that appeared to be a backpack and he was carrying a rifle in his other hand."

When Lopez and Tipton attempted to drive off, police vehicles emerged and brought them to a stop.

Tennessee authorities had been hunting Tipton for months. Adkins described how deputies scoured the wooded areas around Erwin for him. "We had information that that's where he was hiding," Adkins said. "We spent a lot of time in those areas."

Finally, a tip led authorities to the home of Tipton's mother.

Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors called several men who had been incarcerated in the Greene County Jail with Tipton and allegedly heard him confess to stabbing Coop-Trent.

On the stand, however, one of those witnesses wasn't so sure.

Appearing in a customary jail jumpsuit, Scott Grimm said he couldn't recall actually hearing Tipton confess, though he'd previously told authorities he had.

"So here today you're not really sure you heard Darrell say anything," defense attorney Stuart Huffman said. "Is that correct?"

"Correct," Grimm replied.

Before the state rests its case, prosecutors are expected to introduce DNA evidence linking Tipton to the skillet used in the attack.