PORTLAND – A man accused of murdering a Bridgton woman nearly 13 years ago admits having sex with the victim but contends it was another man who repeatedly plunged a knife into her, a defense attorney told jurors Monday.

In his opening statement in Cumberland County Superior Court, Michael Hutchinson’s attorney presented a brief outline of the defense’s account of events leading up to the fatal stabbing of Crystal Perry, 30, on May 12, 1994.

Defense lawyer Robert Andrews said a man came through the door of the single-mother’s ranch-style home asking, “Where is it?” and Perry responded, “Where is what?”

Andrews said Hutchinson stepped toward the intruder and saw a knife drop from his sleeve, at which point Hutchinson retreated into the kitchen to find a weapon he could use to defend himself.

At that point, according to Andrews, Hutchinson felt a blow to the head. When he came to, “he saw a man kneeling in front of Crystal, plunging a knife into her, over and over,” Andrews said.

He said Hutchinson tried to stop the attack, but the man left the home. The defendant then drove home and “cried all the next day,” his lawyer said.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese told jurors that while Hutchinson and Perry lived a mile-and-a-half apart, investigators were unaware that their lives intersected before they were linked through genetic evidence that surfaced 12 years after the slaying.

Marchese said that when the defendant was questioned by investigators, he denied ever having been at the house.

She said the victim was stabbed about 50 times, with many of the wounds to the head, adding that investigators theorized that the killer bled after being cut while stabbing Perry.

The prosecutor described how the victim’s 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, was awakened by the attack and went into the kitchen to find her mother’s bloody body on the kitchen floor.

Marchese described how Sarah, now 25, tried to telephone for help but got no dial tone, then ran a half-mile down a dark road with bare feet and dressed in a bathrobe. “Nobody opened the door to her,” the prosecutor said.

Sarah Perry recalled the events of that night as she took the stand when the prosecution began its presentation.

The cold case was revived after Hutchinson was required to provide a DNA sample when he was arrested on a probation violation a few years ago. The state police crime lab said his DNA matched that found in blood and semen on Perry’s body.

Marchese said the prosecution’s case will be based in large part on circumstantial evidence and testimony from forensic experts, including a state DNA analyst who made the match last year and will testify that Hutchinson “is the only person in the entire world who could have left the DNA at Crystal Perry’s house.”

Andrews said the sex took place at least an hour before Perry was killed. He told jurors that while DNA can prove that Hutchinson was in the house, it does not show that he caused anyone’s death.