SAN DIEGO — The first detective called to the scene of Stephanie Crowe's brutal murder testified Wednesday that he saw no sign of an intruder, lending support to her accused killer's claim that the crime was "an inside job."

Escondido police detective Barry Sweeney took the stand at a preliminary hearing for Richard Tuite, the drifter charged with stabbing the 12-year-old to death in her bed in 1998, and said none of the entrances to the Crowe family home showed signs of forced entry.

Many of the windows and doors were rimmed in cobwebs and dirt, indicating they had not been opened in some time, and others were blocked by possessions or too small to allow entry, Sweeney claimed.

Defense lawyer Brad Patton, who maintains that Stephanie's brother, Michael, and two friends actually killed her, said outside court that Sweeney's testimony indicated "it was an inside job."

"The house was indeed secure from the inside the night the crime occurred," Patton said.

Prosecutors originally charged Michael Crowe, then 14, and two 15-year-old friends, Aaron Houser and Joshua Treadway, with the crime, saying two of the teens had confessed. But a judge ruled that parts of those confessions were coerced. When DNA tests later showed the victim's blood on Tuite's shirt, the charges were dropped entirely. More than three years later, Tuite was finally charged.

Tuite's lawyers insist the blood stains are a mistake and the 33-year-old drifter was too drug-addled and mentally ill to sneak into the family home, kill Stephanie and leave without detection.

Judge Gale Kaneshiro is hearing evidence in the case to determine whether Tuite should be tried for the crime.

Prosecutor Gary Schons downplayed Sweeney's testimony, saying another police witness saw a side door to the family home open at about the time of the crime.

Sweeney also testified that when he arrived at the house Stephanie's parents, grandmother and sister were all sitting on a living room couch in tears. Michael, he said, was also in the room "but not showing any of the emotion the rest of the family was."

Prosecutor David Druliner asked if Sweeney was suggesting Michael's demeanor indicated guilt.

"No, that's just what I observed," said Sweeney.

On Wednesday afternoon, the defense intends to introduce into evidence a videotape of Joshua Treadway's confession. Treadway, now 20, will be in court as the videotape is read.