As she stood before the judge yesterday, Brooke Curry could barely raise her voice above a whisper.

On July 17, she said, Wilkinsburg police arrived at her Ella Street building and asked to see the apartment of her sister, Andrea Curry-Demus, who was facing criminal charges for bringing a newborn baby to West Penn Hospital the day before and falsely claiming to be the mother.

Instead, Brooke Curry led police to her own apartment, across the hall in the same building.

At that point, she said she knew her sister had never given birth. But she didn't know her sister's apartment held the body of 18-year-old Kia Johnson, the girl's hands and ankles bound with duct tape and her abdomen sliced open.

"She told you to take police to your apartment?" Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli asked Brooke Curry about her sister.

"Yes," she replied, tears flowing down her cheek.

"Did you ask why?"

"I didn't get a chance."

Her words, combined with testimony from three Allegheny County police detectives, convinced District Judge Scott H. Schricker to hold Ms. Curry-Demus, 39, for trial on five charges: kidnapping, unlawful restraint, endangering the welfare of a child, conspiracy and homicide.

While Brooke Curry spoke, her sister stood several feet away, wearing a maroon prison jumpsuit. Her face was expressionless.

Only Mr. Tranquilli and Ms. Curry-Demus' attorney, Angela Carsia, separated the siblings.

Just two months ago, the Curry family was eagerly awaiting the birth of Ms. Curry-Demus' child. Relatives had all passed around copies of a sonogram picture showing that she was pregnant with a boy.

The family held a festive baby shower for Ms. Curry-Demus, Brooke Curry said yesterday.

On the evening of Tuesday, July 15, Brooke Curry, her mother and a friend went to visit Ms. Curry-Demus, who told them she was having contractions about an hour apart. They asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital. She declined.

Early the next morning, Ms. Curry-Demus called Brooke Curry; the contractions were occurring more frequently, she told her sister. Brooke Curry visited the apartment at least three times, never entering her sister's bedroom and never seeing anyone else besides her sister.

On the final visit, Ms. Curry-Demus was holding a newborn baby boy, with the umbilical cord still attached. His eyes were open, but he seemed sluggish and bubbles were coming from his mouth.

Ms. Curry-Demus had blood on her. She said she had delivered the baby in the bathroom. She named him Reyshawn.

"Did you believe your sister had just given birth to this boy?" Mr. Tranquilli asked Brooke Curry.

"Yes," she said.

Brooke Curry said she called an ambulance.

Paramedics took Ms. Curry-Demus to West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield, with Brooke Curry following in her own car. A female staff member at the hospital tried to examine Ms. Curry-Demus, but she refused. She told her sister the woman had been rude.

Before Brooke Curry left to go to work, Ms. Curry-Demus asked her if she could clean the apartment. She agreed.

That night, she scrubbed blood from the bathroom, but, again, she didn't enter her sister's bedroom.

On Thursday morning, Ms. Curry-Demus called. Police had come to see her at the hospital. She told them the baby wasn't hers; she said she had bought it from another woman for $1,000.

Officers would be coming to inspect the apartment. Could Brooke Curry take them to her own apartment?

The ruse worked, but just for a day. Complaints of a pungent stench coming from the building brought police back the next day. That time, Brooke Curry showed them the right apartment.

They found the body of Kia Johnson hidden under the headboard of Ms. Curry-Demus' bed. She was wrapped in a comforter and garbage bags. Her feet and ankles were restrained and duct tape and plastic covered her head. Her body had already started to decompose.

Police also found two knives in the sink and a clear plastic bag with white capsules on a shelf in the living room.

That evening, Allegheny County homicide detectives Thomas DeFelice and Scott Towne went to the county jail, where Ms. Curry-Demus was being held.

In a meeting room, Mr. DeFelice told her a dead body had been found in her apartment.

"I didn't know the girl was dead," she replied, according to Mr. DeFelice's testimony yesterday.

Ms. Curry-Demus agreed to speak with the detectives. She told them she had a miscarriage in June, and she then became deeply depressed.

A friend named Adrianna agreed to help her get a baby. On the evening of July 15 -- when Brooke Curry said she and her mother had visited Ms. Curry-Demus -- Adrianna showed up at the apartment with the pregnant woman.

Ms. Curry-Demus told police she had never met the woman before.

Later, a man named Eric Kennedy arrived. He gave the pregnant woman "pain pills." He and Adrianna then left, and the pregnant woman spent the night on the couch.

Mr. Kennedy and Adrianna returned the next morning. Mr. Kennedy took the pregnant woman into the bathroom. He asked for rubbing alcohol, towels, duct tape and plastic wrap.

He later emerged with a baby.

Ms. Curry-Demus acknowledged that her DNA would be on the duct tape and plastic wrap. Mr Kennedy had worn gloves and had asked her to rip the tape and handle the plastic.

Police didn't identify Kia Johnson until late Saturday, July 19, the day after their interview with Ms. Curry-Demus. Using footage from surveillance cameras, they also determined that the pair had met earlier in the week at the county jail; Ms. Curry-Demus had been visiting her husband, while Ms. Johnson had been visiting her boyfriend.

Ms. Curry-Demus was then charged with homicide.

After yesterday's hearing, Mr. Tranquilli said county detectives had investigated a Mr. Kennedy and a woman named Adrianna. But he discounted Ms. Curry-Demus's story about their involvement, citing Brooke Curry's testimony that she never saw anyone else in the apartment.

"I think the evidence would support a theory that Kia, for whatever reason, was lured back to the apartment of Curry-Demus," he said. "Basically, her baby was harvested."

Ms. Curry-Demus' attorney, Ms. Carsia, expressed doubts about Brooke Curry's account, arguing that it was unlikely she never noticed a bound Kia Johnson over several days.

Ms. Carsia also questioned her client's mental stability. Last month, a judge ruled that Ms. Curry-Demus was fit to stand trial, despite testimony from a psychiatrist who said she was "psychotically ill."

Almost two decades ago, Ms. Curry-Demus stabbed a woman and kidnapped a baby from Children's Hospital, shortly after a miscarriage that left her severely depressed and hearing "crying babies."

She spent seven years in jail and was placed on probation until 2011.

Ms. Johnson's son, named Terrell Kian Johnson, is healthy and under the care of her family, her father, Eric Johnson, said yesterday.

"I just don't know what to say," he told reporters after yesterday's hearing. "We miss my baby. But I've got my grandson and I praise God for that."

He said the family is accepting donations to the "Kia Johnson Memorial Fund" at the Huntington Bank at 1415 5th Ave. in McKeesport.