SAN DIEGO -- Murder victim Stephanie Crowe's brother was quiet and playing with an electronic game in the minutes after his sister's body was found in their home, Escondido police officers testified Thursday.

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John Johnson, one of the first officers on the scene Jan. 21, 1998, was called as a defense witness in Richard Tuite's murder trial.

Tuite, 34, is accused of stabbing the seventh-grader to death as she slept.

Johnson said he checked the body of the 12-year-old, then took a position near the living room to keep watch on family members.

Johnson testified that Stephen Crowe, the victim's father, was by turns quiet and distraught.

Michael Crowe, then 14, was playing a video game and "just seemed rather quiet," the officer testified.

At one point, the youth leaned over and put his head on his mother's shoulder, Johnson said.

"Michael seemed to be dealing with things in another way," the officer testified.

Michael and friends Josh Treadway and Aaron Houser originally were charged with Stephanie's murder, after police determined there was no forced entry into the rural Escondido home.

Tuite, a transient and diagnosed schizophrenic, was dismissed as a suspect because investigators thought he was too clumsy to have committed the killing.

He was charged two years ago, however, after the San Diego County Sheriff's Department took the investigation over from Escondido police.

Prosecutors said Tuite was in the area of the Crowe residence the night of the murder, asking for a friend named "Tracy." Evidence also has been presented in the trial that the defendant liked to carry a knife.

Michael Crowe and Treadway gave detailed confessions about the killing, but prosecutors told the jury the admissions were coerced.

Tuite's attorneys plan to show the jury those taped interrogations, which is expected to last six court days.

Escondido police Officer Johnny "Jay" Martin testified that Tuite was "very cooperative" when he and a reserve trainee partner contacted the defendant 3 1/2 hours after the girl's body was discovered.

Martin said they found Tuite eating chicken in a large trash container behind a Ralphs shopping center in eastern Escondido.

"We just advised him to move on," Martin testified.

Martin, who initially responded to the Crowe residence, said he overheard Michael Crowe telling his family he woke up around 4:30 that morning to get a glass of milk and had turned his TV on so he could see in the hallway.

The officer said he found it "odd" that the boy didn't see his sister's body lying in the alcove to her room, directly across the hall.

Charges against the three boys were dismissed in 1999 when Stephanie's blood was found on a red sweatshirt Tuite had the night of the killing. The victim's blood also was found on a white T-shirt Tuite was wearing beneath the sweatshirt.

Tuite's attorneys told the jury a tripod used to take photos in the victim's room may have gotten blood on it, then come into contact with Tuite's sweatshirt in the lab.

The defense also said two Escondido officers at the crime scene came in contact with Tuite in a police holding cell and could have contaminated the T-shirt.

Tuite's defense team contends that since no one heard the victim scream, she must have been attacked by two assailants, one holding her down and one stabbing her nine times through a comforter.