Murder trial begins in case of D.C. woman who vanished in 1999

Three days after Baker was last seen, family members filed a missing-person report with the D.C. police. Baker's picture was displayed on the department's missing-person Web site, and friends and family members passed out fliers and held candlelight vigils. Barnett played no part in the search for Baker, Haines said. He waited another three days before he approached police about Baker's disappearance.

Haines said a witness saw Barnett just hours after he was seen with Baker in her car leaving the 1999 party.

The witness said Barnett was on a bridge about midnight, pulling a large object wrapped in a plastic garbage bag from the trunk of a car.

Haines also acknowledged that there were some mistakes by police in the investigation. "The system failed [Baker] during her life and after her death," she said.

In her opening statement, Lotze told the jury that Barnett was innocent and that the DNA from two other individuals was found in the trunk of Baker's car. She said two other men had been driving Baker's car around town when it was discovered.

"There is more evidence that one of these two other men did it, not Mr. Barnett," she said.

Lotze said that her client cooperated with the police investigation and that Baker's family thinks Barnett killed Baker because relatives never approved of the couple's relationship.

Lotze later displayed pictures of Baker and Barnett, laughing together and dancing with family and friends at the party, just hours before she disappeared.

The trial is expected to last about a month.