Daniels' skeletonized body was discovered almost a year after her worried mother told police she had disappeared.
Construction workers taking a break about 11:30 a.m. April 24, 2006, noticed a patch of strong-smelling pinecone-covered ground about two miles from Route 72 in the Brendan T. Bryne State Forest in Woodland Township, Burlington County.
One worker saw a white painter's tarp protruding from the ground and part of a human skull partly covered with a plastic Wal-Mart shopping bag.
"We know that he took a pillow and put it over her face and held it down while she screamed and kicked until she stopped kicking," Assistant District Attorney Gail Fairman told the jury in her opening statement.
Fairman said that after Daniels was dead, Hansen had sex with the corpse before wrapping and burying it.
Hansen, who did time for a 1993 Bucks County rape and was on probation in April 2005 for drunken-driving, was charged with domestic assault in an April 7, 2005, incident in which Daniels was found bruised, stunned, and half-clothed, walking on North 66th Street in Overbrook.
A court hearing was set for May 23, 2005. Hansen showed, Daniels did not.
The trial will likely focus on the key prosecution witness - Hansen's sister, Kelly Hansen - who Fairman said will tell how Hansen confided in her about the killing and how she accompanied him on several visits to Daniels' grave site.
Defense attorney Michael P. Parkinson, who with Timothy J. Tarpey represents Hansen, told the jury in his opening that Kelly Hansen was lying to save herself from criminal charges.
Parkinson said Kelly Hansen had been granted immunity from prosecution by the District Attorney's Office. He warned: "Watch out for that lightning bolt when she puts her hand on the Bible."
