A Washington County jury heard the frantic voice of Julie Hepner yesterday as the tape of her 911 call from Jan. 29, 2003, was played in court.

On that day, Ms. Hepner, a caregiver for Shannon and Freda Dale, found the elderly couple's Peters home ransacked, Mr. Dale badly beaten and Mrs. Dale dead.

"I checked her pulse and there's nothing," Ms. Hepner told a dispatcher, her call dotted with sobs. "I didn't want to get all hysterical because I didn't want to scare [Mr. Dale]."

The trial of Mark Matthew Fisher, who prosecutors allege was one of the four men who robbed the Dale house that snowy afternoon, began yesterday with testimony from Ms. Hepner, investigators and medical personnel telling the grisly tale.

Mr. Fisher, 24, of Texarkana, Ark., has been charged with homicide in the death of Mrs. Dale, though prosecutors don't contend that any of the robbers meant to kill her.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Leon Rozin testified that Mrs. Dale, 89, died of a heart attack "as a result of stress, anxiety and fear during the robbery."

Nearly four years after the attack, in the fall of 2006, Mr. Fisher was charged with homicide and burglary after being linked by DNA found at the scene.

In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas said that DNA from a cigarette butt matched Mr. Fisher's, his fingerprint was found on an envelope inside the house and DNA from the duct tape that bound the couple could not be ruled out as his.

But Public Defender Glenn Alterio told the jury of seven men and five women that the mere presence of Mr. Fisher's DNA and print at the scene does not necessarily mean he committed the crime or that he was in the house because he could have handled the envelope outside.

Mr. Alterio also said Mr. Fisher's mother and sister-in-law will testify he was at his home in Arkansas on the day of the incident.

According to testimony yesterday, a man posing as a gas company worker struck up a conversation with Mr. Dale in his driveway that day. When they walked inside, Mr. Dale later told investigators, three more men were in his kitchen clutching Mrs. Dale.

After binding the couple's wrists and legs with duct tape, the robbers scoured the house for money. Finding none, they returned to Mr. Dale, punched him in the face and kicked him in the ribs, all the time asking him where the money was. Mr. Dale told them he didn't have any, but they continued to beat him, twisting his middle finger as a means of torture.

Today, forensic investigators are scheduled to testify for the prosecution about the link between Mr. Fisher and the crime.

County President Judge Debbie O'Dell Seneca has not yet ruled on whether evidence will be admitted about a subsequent robbery that Mr. Fisher was found guilty of in Arkansas that was similar to the Dale incident. He was serving 70 years in an Arkansas jail for various robberies and burglaries before being charged with the crime in Peters.

Judge Seneca also has not ruled on whether to allow evidence that Mr. Dale picked a different person from a lineup long before Mr. Fisher became a suspect. Mr. Dale died in February of natural causes at the age of 95.

Yesterday Mr. Fisher, dressed in a checkered button-down shirt and khaki pants, appeared to be in good spirits, at one point smiling and waving to family members seated in the courtroom.