MINOT - Valley City State student Mindy Morgenstern was killed quickly last September by an assailant who apparently did not plot the slaying beforehand, an investigator says.

Arnie Rummel, an agent with the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, testified Friday in the murder trial of Moe Gibbs that there was "quite a small amount of blood" at the crime scene and no blood spatters, even though Morgenstern was stabbed in the neck.

Her belt was wrapped around her neck, which cut off blood flow, Rummel said.

Dr. George Mizell, the former state medical examiner, said Friday that Morgenstern's death was primarily caused by strangulation, but he also described a knife wound in her neck as "a significant injury and a lethal injury."

Mizell performed the autopsy on Morgenstern on Sept. 14, the day after she was slain. He said she was stabbed with two knives after a belt was wrapped around her neck and tightened, and that she inhaled some of her own blood before she died.

Jurors got their first look Friday at graphic photos of Morgenstern's autopsy, with Mizell explaining their meaning.

Under questioning from Brad Cruff, the Barnes County state's attorney, and defense lawyer Dennis Fisher, Rummel speculated that Morgenstern's assailant followed her into her apartment and attacked quickly, wrapping the belt around her neck and rendering her unconscious.

"She was already passed out, and not able to defend herself," Rummel said. Morgenstern's attacker then took two knives from a countertop block in her apartment and plunged them into her neck, and then poured Pine-Sol cleaning fluid on her face and chest, causing chemical burns.

"Everything that was used in the killing was located in her apartment," Rummel said. If someone had planned to kill Morgenstern, he or she likely would have brought along the means to do so, Rummel said.

Investigators believe Morgenstern, 22, of New Salem, was killed by Gibbs in her off-campus apartment at around 12:30 p.m. Sept. 13, based on her computer use and cell phone calls.

Gibbs, 34, a former Barnes County jailer who lived in the same apartment building as Morgenstern, said he was bringing his wife, Christina, something to drink at work around the time, and his attorneys on Thursday cited a computer text message from her to back that up.

Rummel on Friday described cell phone and text message records from cell phones held by Gibbs, his then-wife, Christina, and Morgenstern. Gibbs had two phones, one of which was given to him by another woman. Cruff referred to it as Gibbs' "secret" phone, although Paulson ordered jurors to ignore the description.

A timeline displayed for the jury did not show any activity on Gibbs' cell phones for 66 minutes during midday on Sept. 13. Prosecutors believe Gibbs killed Morgenstern during that time. She stopped answering calls to her cell phone at about the same time, the records said.

"Is (66 minutes) sufficient time to commit a murder?" Cruff asked Rummel. "Yes, it is," Rummel replied.

Defense attorney Dennis Fisher said records showed Gibbs called his wife's phone when authorities believe he was in Morgenstern's apartment. His lawyers believe that gives Gibbs an alibi.

Fisher also questioned Rummel about whether authorities knew the precise time of Morgenstern's death. Rummel said they did not, and Mizell gave Morgenstern's time of death only as "the previous day, or the day before" he performed an autopsy Sept. 14.

Fisher referred to witness reports that a "strange man in a plaid shirt" had been seen in Morgenstern's apartment building the day of the slaying, and that two men had been seen running from the building and getting into a brown car. Rummel said the second report was discounted by investigators.

Fisher also brought up a conversation Morgenstern allegedly had with her mother when she described being frightened by an older man as she talked on her cell phone. Authorities had several potential suspects besides Gibbs, but did not check them out, Fisher suggested.

Rummel said that when Gibbs' DNA was discovered under one of Morgenstern's fingernails, "it became pretty clear to us, that is where we needed to focus."

Later, Fisher asked: "Once Mr. Gibbs was arrested … (other suspects) were not pursued any more." Replied Rummel: "Yes, that's correct."

Defense attorneys say the amount of DNA recovered by investigators is so small it could have been passed if Gibbs and Morgenstern used the same doorknob in their apartment building.

LaMonte Jacobson, supervisor of the forensic section of the North Dakota Crime Laboratory, said no fingerprints were found on the knives, Morgenstern's body, her purse and wallet, or the bottle of Pine-Sol that was poured on her.

Crimes are seldom solved by fingerprint evidence, Jacobson said.

"Fingerprints are useful evidence," he said. "Where the problem comes in, is finding a print that's useful."