SAN DIEGO -- One of three former teens originally charged with Stephanie Crowe's murder testified Thursday that he didn't know why he stole a friend's Best Defense knife months before the girl was killed.

Joshua Treadway, now 20, testified for a third day in the preliminary hearing for Richard Tuite, a 33-year-old transient now charged with the girl's murder. Her body was found in her bedroom the morning of Jan. 21, 1998.

Detectives found the "Best Defense" knife -- once believed to be the murder weapon -- under Treadway's bed during a search of his bedroom on Jan. 27, 1998.

Prosecutors are trying to show that statements Treadway gave five years ago during two lengthy interrogations by Escondido police detectives were coerced.

Under cross-examination, Treadway testified that he took the knife from Aaron Houser's room because it reminded him of a knife from the movie "Mortal Kombat."

"That doesn't make much sense, does it?" defense attorney Brad Patton asked.

"I still don't recall as to why I did it then," Treadway told Tuite's attorney. "I was a stupid kid. Who knows why?"

Attorneys for Tuite have presented evidence that they say points to Treadway, Houser and the victim's older brother, Michael, as the killers.

The three originally were charged with the seventh-grader's murder. But charges were dropped when a DNA test revealed Stephanie's blood on a filthy red shirt Tuite wore the night of the killing.

The case was turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the state Attorney General's Office three years ago.

Earlier, Treadway told Senior Assistant Attorney General Gary Schons that he lied about receiving the knife from Houser because he felt it was his only way to avoid going to prison for the rest of his life.

The witness said he agreed with Detective Ralph Claytor's "scale theory" to place himself at a lower level of culpability than Houser and Michael Crowe.

Treadway said if he told Claytor what really happened -- that he stole the knife from Houser's room months earlier so he could show it to his brother -- "the evidence would screw me to the wall and I would go to prison."

Wednesday, Treadway told Patton that he lied early on during the Jan. 27, 1998, interview, falsely telling police that Michael Crowe had told him that he hated the victim.

Treadway said he was just responding to comments by detectives, who said he didn't know a lot of what went on in the Crowe home.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, Judge Gale Kaneshiro will determine if there is enough evidence to order Tuite to stand trial. He faces 27 years to life in prison if tried and convicted.