LUDINGTON, Mich. – Jury selection is taking place for the trial of a northern Michigan man charged with murder in the disappearance of his infant daughter.

Katherine Phillips, known as "Baby Kate," disappeared in 2011 in the Ludington area. Defense lawyer David Glancy tells the Ludington Daily News that a defense offer for Sean Phillips to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected.

Jury selection took place Monday and the trial is expected to take three weeks.

Phillips is serving a 10-year prison sentence for unlawful imprisonment in Kate's disappearance.

A year ago, the Michigan appeals court said the murder charge could go forward, even if a body hadn't been found. The court said Phillips' correspondence with Kate's mother and other evidence was sufficient to show that the girl's death was a crime.

The murder charge is based in large part on a letter Phillips sent to Kate’s mother from prison in which he described throwing the baby’s car seat while she was still in it and then leaving her body somewhere in the country. Her remains have not been found.