TROY -- If Rensselaer County prosecutors convict Johnny Oquendo of murdering his 21-year-old stepdaughter, Noel Alkaramla, it will be with the testimony of a star witness who claims she communicates with the dead and saw the victim screaming in a vision.

That's in addition to her admitted use of drugs, mental health problems and alleged sexual contact with a dog.

The testimony of Amanda Whitman on Tuesday was expected to focus on her tying the defendant, her former live-in lover, to a suitcase in which he allegedly stuffed the victim and then threw into the Hudson River.

But for the second time in six days, Whitman's own baggage took center stage.

"You had visions of Noel, correct?" Oquendo's attorney, Assistant Public Defender William Roberts, asked Whitman. "You believe you had received messages from Noel at the time of her disappearance?"

"Yes. I believe that I have received some things," Whitman answered. She testified she experienced a vision where she saw Alkaramla screaming in a basement, bound and screaming, "Please, don't!"

In her vision, Whitman said, Alkaramla was being "splashed on her face with water and couldn't breathe."

The testimony that she communicates with the dead follows allegations last week that she videotaped herself having sex with a dog and has logged onto hundreds of bestiality websites.

Alkaramla was found strangled to death in a suitcase recovered on the Albany side of the Hudson River on Jan. 30, 2015.

Prosecutors contend Oquendo, 40, used a plastic supermarket bag to choke Alkaramla on the third floor of his apartment at 170 Third St. on Nov. 22, 2015. They allege he stuffed her lifeless remains in the suitcase, dragged it into the Hudson River and tossed it in.

And they say Whitman, as the girlfriend of Oquendo for several months in 2015, was in a unique position to have critical information about him. Whitman, 37, testified Tuesday that Oquendo owned the suitcase, which was in the courtroom as evidence.

She spoke about clothes Oquendo wore on walks that could tie him to a surveillance video taken from a city apartment complex. The video, one of many surveillance tapes at the trial, allegedly captured Oquendo dragging the suitcase to the river.

Whitman also testified Oquendo had a "father-daughter relationship" with Alkaramla, which could cast doubt on the defense argument that the two had a consensual sexual relationship. The defendant's semen was found in the victim. Oquendo, a convicted sex offender, is not charged with sexually abusing her.

On cross-examination, Roberts jumped at the opportunity to delve into Whitman's purported abilities as a necromancer. She answered the questions with little, if any, objections from the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts.

"How often on a weekly basis would you speak with the dead back in 2015?" Roberts asked.

Whitman, who had her own attorney present, appeared annoyed at the attorney's line of questioning.

"Sir, when you phrase it 'I speak with the dead,' that's not the proper way to do it. You make it sound like I hear voices," Whitman said. "It's a sensing. It's not speaking."

Roberts pressed.

"Explain to me, please if you would, how you communicate with individuals no longer of the earthly world?" he asked.

"Through their energy or pictures in my mind," Whitman responded. She said she "never had training" and realized she had the rare ability at the age of nine.

Roberts also confronted Whitman with nasty text messages she sent Oquendo following their breakup -- including one where she told him she hoped he died of AIDS and another where she said she wished he would "slip on a knife and kill yourself." She also posted on Facebook in September 2016 that she hoped he could get the death penalty.

The lawyer revealed text messages that showed up until the day of the breakup, which was days before Alkaramla vanished on Nov. 22, 2015, Whitman was not only hoping to marry Oquendo but to also have his child.

Earlier, Botts may have opened a can of worms when he asked the witness about her mental-health status. It opens the door to allow Roberts to gain access to her mental-health records and about her drug use; she said she used to smoke marijuana daily and drink alcohol to excess.

State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia told Botts the prosecutor's office would have to take the time to provide access to the records to the defense, but added, "Frankly it's a burden your office caused."

The judge added that he has grown tired of prosecution-related delays in the case that could have been avoided.

Oquendo faces 25 years to life if convicted of murder.

Testimony will continue at 10 a.m. Wednesday with Whitman back on the stand to possibly face questions about her mental health.