A New London jury learned Monday that strangling victim Renee Pellegrino had a criminal history and was engaged in a high-risk profession - prostitution - as the trial of her accused killer began in New London Superior Court.

The jury watched a crime scene video showing Pellegrino's naked body as it was discovered by a Waterford patrolman on June 25, 1997. The body was posed in a crucifix-like position with the head bent to the left, arms outstretched, legs spread wide and bent at the knees, feet placed together.

To her mother's chagrin, the jury did not hear about the other side of Pellegrino - a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, a law school graduate and a gifted pianist. Jean Russell of Quaker Hill said her daughter, who was 41 when she died, had turned to drugs and the street life after she "lost her sister, lost her father and lost herself."

Dickie E. Anderson Jr., 41, of New London, is charged with killing Pellegrino in 1997 and killing Michelle Comeau, another troubled woman who worked as a prostitute, in 1998. He pleaded not guilty and opted for a trial. On Monday, prosecutors David J. Smith and Stephen M. Carney set the scene with testimony from police who worked the case 15 years ago.

Russell, who said she had avoided reading her daughter's autopsy report at the recommendation of a detective who kept in contact with her for years after Pellegrino's death, stayed in the courtroom Tuesday to view the crime scene footage, even after prosecutor Stephen M. Carney warned her she might not want to see the video.

"I have to know," she said.

Afterward, Russell said she wouldn't be able to get the images out of her mind, but that she did not regret seeing them.

Anderson, a father of three who was working at a nursing home when he was arrested in 2010, wore a navy blue suit and sat at the defense table between attorneys Christopher Duby and John T. Walkley. Anderson has admitted to knowing both victims and has described himself to police as a "trick artist" who traded crack cocaine for sex with prostitutes.

His mother, who has attended all of his court appearances, sat in the gallery. His sister, who also has been supportive, intends to watch the trial but is temporarily sequestered because the state intends to call her as a witness.

Waterford Patrolman Steven Whitehead testified that he had just started his shift that June morning when he came across a body in the middle of the cul-de-sac on Parkway South, a road that runs parallel to Interstate 95 and once connected to the now-defunct Waterford Airport.

Whitehead said it was a spot where town patrolmen met in the morning for coffee because it was centrally located. He testified that he notified the police dispatcher of his discovery and, after another officer arrived, felt the female victim's carotid artery for a pulse.

Another Waterford officer, Cynthia Munoz, testified that she had patrolled the same section of road while working the midnight shift and had seen nothing out of place. She said that it had rained that morning during her lunch break, which she took between 5 and 5:30 a.m.

Detective Sgt. John Turner from the Eastern District Major Crime Squad testified that he arrived at about 9 a.m., videotaped the crime scene and surveyed the body. Pellegrino had marks on her neck that indicated she had been killed with a ligature, such as a rope or cord.

The only thing on her body was a pink hair tie that was wrapped around her wrist, he said.

Turner testified that Pellegrino appeared to have been killed somewhere else, and the Waterford site appeared to be a dump site, or "secondary scene."

Witnesses told police Pellegrino was in downtown New London the night before her body was discovered.

Turner said it appeared that Pellegrino's body had been placed there during the rain storm, since she had water underneath her body and in her belly button, and her hair was wet and matted.

Waterford Detective Richard Weiss, now retired, said that after Pellegrino was identified, he began investigating her background. He learned that Pellegrino, who had a history of arrests for prostitution, larceny and criminal trespass, had been incarcerated from June 9 until about 6 p.m. on June 24, the previous day, when somebody posted her bond.

Weiss testified that he attended Pellegrino's autopsy and observed the collection of DNA swabs and blood, which he later turned over to the state crime laboratory. Investigators created a timeline of Pellegrino's whereabouts, and Weiss began talking with "street people," including known prostitutes, who might have seen her on June 24 and 25.

Under cross-examination, Weiss admitted that, as the investigation continued, he spoke with Hope Becker, another known prostitute, who later would be murdered in Norwich in 2002. The defense is expected to attempt to implicate Becker's convicted killer, Clifford Gilliland, in the Pellegrino and Comeau murders.

When the trial resumes today, the state will introduce the Comeau crime scene to the jury. In May 1998, police found her body dumped along an access road to the Norwich Industrial Park near the Norwich-Franklin town line.

k.florin@theday.com