TOMS RIVER - Alan Bienkowski fought back tears as he told an Ocean County jury about his 10-15 bags of heroin a day habit and the four times he unsuccessfully tried to kill himself.

"I'm surprised I'm still living," said the 57-year-old Manchester Township resident, who is on trial for the brutal murder of his elderly neighbor Anthony "Tony" Verdicchio in 2013.

When Bienkowski took the witness stand late in the day Tuesday, he testified that he spent May 12, 2013 - the day Verdicchio is believed to have been struck 14 to 16 times in the head with a hammer - using heroin, trying to buy more heroin and running other errands, such as walking his dog.

His testimony, which is scheduled to continue Wednesday in Ocean County Superior Court, came after hours of opposing arguments on Tuesday from a pair of blood stain pattern experts.

Even though blood stains on Bienkowski's sneakers were reportedly a positive match for Verdicchio's blood, Arthur Young - a forensic DNA analyst and blood stain pattern expert - testified, as a witness for the defense, that the pattern and limited amount of the blood stains were "inconsistent" with him being present at the time of the killing.

However, John Garkowski - a retired State Police detective who currently works with the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office's Crime Scene Unit - testified as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution that from way the blood stains appeared on the sneakers "it could only mean one thing" that Bienkowski had to have been in the room when the blood was still falling toward the floor.

After both of the blood experts testified, Superior Court Judge James Blaney ruled - following a request from Senior Assistant Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone - that a "sanitized" version of Bienkowski's previous criminal record would be allowed to be brought up in the event he testified.

John Garkowski, of the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, testifies about blood stain patterns as a witness for the prosecution during the murder trial of Alan Bienkowski on Feb. 16, 2016. (Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Blaney did not allow all of Bienkowski's previous offenses to be brought up, but did agree to let the prosecution discuss a 1993 conviction for first-degree armed robbery, a 1993 conviction for possession of C.D.S. and a 2000 conviction for theft.

Bienkowski's defense attorney, Michael Schreiber, argued that doing so could be "almost fatal" to his client's case and could prevent Bienkowski from testifying, because he said it would be like not being able to "unring a bell" in the minds of the jurors.

However, after the court took a recess to enable him to discuss the situation with Schreiber, Bienkowski still opted to take the stand.

During approximately an hour of answering questions from Schreiber, Bienkowski told the jury of portions of his journey from being a high school drop out from Newark - he later received his G.E.D. - to being a supervisor for Arm and Hammer in Lakewood.

When he was laid off in 2009, he cashed in his 401K and bought a handful of vending machines, which he said helped him earn up to $1,000 a week during the summer months. He said he also made extra money on the side selling scrap metal and selling items at flea markets. Bienkowski also said he had a lot of success with scratch-off lottery tickets, winning prizes of $10,000, $5,000 and on several occasions, $500.

"I've always been a hustler as far as getting money," he said.

But when he lost a second job in 2013 - this one as a truck driver for a meat company in Long Branch - he said he fell into a deep depression. His relationship with a live-in girlfriend fell apart, he started using drugs again after being sober for 20 years and tried to kill himself four times.

By Mother's Day weekend in May of 2013 - the weekend Verdicchio was killed - Bienkowski said he was driving to Newark almost daily in order get heroin, which he said he snorted 10 to 15 bags of every day.

Bienkowski said that he and Verdicchio were friendly, but were not close friends. He said they would just chat about baseball when they would run into each other at the store or on the street.

"We didn't have each other's phone numbers, we never did anything together," he said. "He was a lot older than me, he was like 75 or 76."

But Bienkowski did say he borrowed $40 from Verdicchio on one occasion, but that he paid back the loan in two installments on the Friday and then Saturday of the weekend Verdicchio was killed. Bienkowski said he dropped off the second payment to Verdicchio at his home and had a conversation with him about his deck, but that he never went inside.

On May 12, 2013, the last day Verdicchio was seen alive, Bienkowski testified that he woke up at around 5:30 a.m., snorted a couple bags of heroin, brushed his teeth, walked his dog and then did more heroin. He said he then checked on one of his vending machines, visited his sister's house and then took his dog to a dog park. He said he then went to a flea market in Englishtown in search of a Jamaican man he had previously bought drugs from, but when he couldn't find the Jamaican man he went to Newark to buy 10 bags of heroin from a man named "Rock". He said he then hung out in Newark for a little while before he headed home, went back out food shopping and then finally returned home at approximately 7 p.m.

He testified that he stayed home the rest of the night.

This is where Bienkowski's testimony was stopped for the day. It is scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning.

Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.