CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The girlfriend of accused East Cleveland serial killer Michael Madison's told a jury Thursday that he showed up at her house with scratches on his face around the time police believe he killed 18-year-old Shirellda Terry.

Madison is on trial for the murder of three women, Terry along with Shatisha Sheeley, 28, and Angela Deskins, 38, whose bodies were found near his apartment in July 2013. Thursday featured the fourth full day of testimony in what is expected to be a month-long trial. Madison faces the death penalty if convicted.

Madison's former girlfriend, Shawnte Mahone, told the jury that she often slept with Madison in the months and days leading up to his arrest. She met Madison in October 2012.

Mahone said she asked him what happened when he showed up at the door with deep, fresh scratches on his face that July.

"He said he got into a fight and a girl jumped in and scratched his face," Mahone said. Madison told her that he got in a fight while taking his car to a repair shop.

In the days that followed, Mahone said that Madison's apartment began to smell like sewage. Madison told her that he thought an animal died, and he lit incense throughout the apartment in an attempt to cover up the smell.

Less than two weeks later, police found Terry's body inside Madison's garage, along with evidence that he had kept the body inside a hallway closet.

The day Terry's body was discovered, Madison was staying at Mahone's home about seven houses away from his apartment at the corner Hayden and Shaw avenues.

The accused killer was arrested later that day after a SWAT standoff at his mother's home in Cleveland.

The trial continued with prosecutors showed the jury a series of photographs taken of Terry's body after it was recovered and removed from the plastic garbage bags. Madison had tied the girls neck and angles together with a belt.

The defendant, who has watched much of the trial, kept his face down as the photographs were shown onscreen.

The jury was also shown the first minutes of a 10-hour long interrogation that was taped shortly after Madison's arrest. The presentation of Madison's interrogation will continue Friday.

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