The U.S. attorney said for the first time yesterday that someone with a cell phone belonging to Damian Bradford contacted Donna Moonda the day her husband was shot to death on the Ohio Turnpike.

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Mr. Bradford is charged in Dr. Gulam Moonda's killing, but until now prosecutors had declined to discuss any evidence connecting him to the crime.

Mrs. Moonda has not been charged, but police obtained her cell phone records for the six months prior to her husband's death, a time she was having an affair with Mr. Bradford.

The government also has Mr. Bradford's phone records, which his lawyers are trying to suppress so a jury would not see them.

Prosecutors say Mr. Bradford's cell phone records should be admitted at trial because they help prove that he stalked Dr. Moonda. They say his cell phone tracks his movements from Pennsylvania into Ohio on May 13, 2005, the day of the killing.

In court papers filed yesterday, prosecutors said that "Damian Bradford's cell phone contacted Donna Moonda and others" the day Dr. Moonda died.

Just as important, prosecutors say, cell phone towers trace Mr. Bradford's movements throughout the day of the killing. Tower records show that Mr. Bradford's cell phone initially was in Beaver County, where he lived. Then the phone was in the area of Hermitage in Mercer County, where the Moondas lived.

Finally, prosecutors say, the tracking shows that Mr. Bradford's phone was "near the Ohio Turnpike," where a highway robber shot Dr. Moonda in the face.

The gunman killed Dr. Moonda about 15 miles south of Cleveland. Mrs. Moonda had pulled into an emergency parking lane of the turnpike so her husband could take over the driving.

While the switch was under way, the gunman arrived, stole Dr. Moonda's money, shot him and fled.

Donna Moonda, 47, and her mother, Dorothy Smouse, 75, witnessed the killing but were not harmed by the gunman.

Mr. Bradford, 24, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say they plan an alibi defense that would place him in Pennsylvania, not Ohio, the evening of the killing.

In court filings, prosecutors say they hope to use the phone records and a yet-unidentified witness to impeach Mr. Bradford.

Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said Mr. Bradford told police he was dealing drugs in Pennsylvania when Dr. Moonda was killed, a story he called a lie.

According to prosecutors, Mr. Bradford said he "spent a portion of the afternoon conducting small cocaine transactions in Beaver County."

Mr. White said the government will introduce a witness at trial who will testify that "Damian Bradford directed him or her to obtain drugs from Bradford's vehicle at his residence in Aliquippa ... and leave the money for the transaction."

This was necessary because Mr. Bradford said he "would not be home and therefore unable to conduct the sale in person," according to court papers submitted by Mr. White.

Michael DeRiso, one of Mr. Bradford's lawyers, has filed motions that he hopes will force prosecutors to reveal the identity of the confidential informant before trial.

Defense lawyers also contend that Mr. Bradford's cell phone records were obtained illegally by a state grand jury in Cleveland. The records were handed to federal prosecutors when they assumed control of the Moonda case.

Mr. DeRiso said the state violated Mr. Bradford's constitutional rights by taking his phone records without a warrant.

He said numerous cell phone companies were ordered to appear before the grand jury or to provide records to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, lead investigative agency in the Moonda case.

U.S. District Judge David Dowd of Akron, Ohio, could rule on the admissibility of phone records as soon as Tuesday. Mr. Bradford is to go on trial July 24.

Even if his cell phone records are admitted into evidence, Mr. Bradford's lawyers say, they do not prove that he was in Ohio the evening of the killing.

Police seized six cell phones from Mr. Bradford's apartment when they raided it a week after Dr. Moonda's death.

The defense suggests that any number of people could have used a phone belonging to Mr. Bradford.

In all, the government obtained records for 22 cell phones in the Moonda case. At least three of those were linked to Mrs. Moonda, court filings show.

Prosecutors say charging Mr. Bradford was only the first step in solving the case. They will not say whether Mrs. Moonda also is a suspect.

She is on probation in Pennsylvania for stealing the painkiller fentanyl from UPMC Horizon in Mercer County, where she worked as a nurse anesthetist.

She said she became addicted to the drug and entered a rehabilitation program in 2004 in Beaver County.

It was there that she met Mr. Bradford, who also was being treated for a drug addiction.