SAN DIEGO -- One of three teens originally charged with killing Stephanie Crowe will continue testifying Wednesday in the murder trial of Richard Tuite, a man now accused of stabbing the 12-year-old to death in 1998.

TUITE MURDER TRIAL Discuss: Share Your Thoughts About Stephanie's Murder Video: Exclusive Video Of Tuite's Capture Images: Exclusive Images Of Tuite's Capture Images: Exclusive Photos Of Tuite Interrogation Images: Verdicts Reached In Tuite Trial Discuss: Share Your Thoughts About Tuite's Courthouse Escape

Joshua Treadway, now 20, told jurors Wednesday that he was shocked when he learned Stephanie had been killed and that Michael, her brother, was being charged for the murder.

Video

Joshua Treadway Testifies In Tuite Trial

"I was shocked. Because I couldn't believe it to be true. It was more shocking than the fact that not only had we now lost someone, now, being told that someone else we know is responsible for it," Treadway said.

Tuesday's testimony focused on a knife Treadway had stolen near the time of Stephanie's death.

He said he stole a knife from a friend because he wanted to draw it and show it to his brother.

Treadway testified that he took the "Best Defense" knife from Aaron Houser's room during a Jan. 16, 1998, sleepover because it reminded him of a knife he had seen in the movie "Mortal Kombat."

Deputy Attorney General Jim Dutton asked Treadway why he didn't just ask Houser if he could borrow the knife.

"I wish I knew. I wish I had," Treadway said, testifying in the prosecution's rebuttal case.

Treadway said he got the knife home by putting it in his backpack. He said he threw it under his bed when he got home the next day.

Escondido police detectives found the "Best Defense" knife under Treadway's bed during a search of the 15-year-old's home days after Stephanie's body was discovered the morning of Jan. 21, 1998.

Treadway admitted to a police detective during a Jan. 28, 1998, interrogation that he stole the knife from Houser, but said he was not involved in Stephanie's murder.

In a subsequent interrogation on Feb. 10, 1998, Treadway told Oceanside police Detective Chris McDonough that he helped Michael Crowe and Houser kill the girl because Houser threatened to kill him if he didn't.

Houser told Treadway that his job was to get rid of the "Best Defense" knife, Treadway tells the detective.

Prosecutors from the state Attorney General's Office say Treadway's statements and those from Michael Crowe were illegally coerced.

Treadway, Crowe, and Houser were originally charged with killing Stephanie. The charges were dropped in 1999, when blood was found on a sweatshirt worn by Tuite, who was seen in the neighborhood on the night of the slaying.

Tuite was charged two years ago with the girl's murder.

Defense attorneys are trying to show jurors that police had it right six years ago when they arrested the boys.