CAMBRIDGE - Emotional testimony from the parents of Joanne Presti opened the witness portion of the West Woburn double murder trial on Thursday in Middlesex Superior Court.

Peter Presti recalled finding his daughter's body on a couch in her living room, where she had been apparently slain, and checked for a pulse.

"I put two fingers on her and I said (to his wife) 'Annette, it's over.'" said Presti.

Michael Bizanowicz, 44, of Lowell is accused of killing Joanne, 34, and her 12-year-old daughter, Alyssa, in their Totman Drive home on Jan. 5, 2004. A level 3 sex offender, he is also charged with aggravated rape of Joanne Presti, who lived in the same neighborhood as Bizanowicz's former girlfriend.

Besides Peter and Annette Presti, Woburn Police patrolman Daniel McIntyre and Sgt. John O'Neil - two of the first officers at the scene - also testified on Thursday.

Court was recessed for the day in the midst of the prosecution's questioning of State Police Trooper Paul Bartlett, a fingerprint expert who analyzed evidence collected from the Totman Drive home in which the Prestis lived.

Bartlett's testimony is expected to resume when court re-convenes on Friday.

Annette & Peter Presti

Annette Presti spoke lovingly of her only daughter, a mother of three - Alyssa; a now 12-year-old son who lived with his father in Revere at the time of the murders; and another son, now 5. After his mother was killed, the youngest child was adopted by his uncle and now lives in Florida.

After her youngest child was born, Joanne Presti left work in the optomistry field and became a stay-at-home mother, Annette Presti said.

"Her interests were her children," said Annette Presti. "She lived for her children."

Joanne, Alyssa and the toddler moved to 13A Totman Drive on Oct. 31, 2003, after living across the street at 22 Totman Drive for seven years. Joanne was "the Pied Piper of the neighborhood," according to her mother.

"She was always outside playing with the children," said Annette Presti. "The children of the neighborhood loved Joanne."

Of Alyssa, Annette Presti described her granddaughter, as "the star in our lives," a solid A/B student at the Joyce Middle School who enjoyed singing, spelling bees and "always smiled."

Typically, Joanne spoke to her mother via telephone every morning, but there had been no phone calls since Jan. 4, 2004. Three days later, Annette Presti was phoned by Bobbi Jo Miller, a Totman Drive neighbor who is the mother of Bizanowicz's daughter.

Annette Presti said Miller sounded "very worried" and "very concerned" that the blinds had been drawn in Joanne's house, and her minivan had apparently not been moved in several days.

Peter Presti, a meat cutter at Stop & Shop in Winchester who happened to be on a day off, and Annette then drove from their home in Billerica to Totman Drive and entered their daughter's house, the door to which they noticed had not been locked.

They first encountered Joanne in the living room. Peter Presti then went alone upstairs to check on the children, and found Alyssa dead. He noticed her bed, which he had previously set up for her against a wall in her room, was "at an angle," indicating there may have been a struggle.

He then heard noises coming from the baby's room, which he did not know at first were from his grandson, or the possible killer.

"I was hoping whoever was in there - I was going to get him - but the baby got up and started to cry," said Peter Presti.

Peter Presti collected the toddler, brought him downstairs handed the boy to his wife, whom he met as she was beginning to climb the stairs.

"He said 'You cannot see Alyssa,'" said Annette, indicating Peter was trying to protect his wife from the gruesome scene upstairs.

Peter Presti said he then went to the cupboard to find a sippy cup for apple juice for his grandson, and then went back to the second floor.

"My wife was hysterical," said Peter Presti. "I went upstairs again to check on Alyssa, and I just cried."

He said he eventually went outside to flag down the first arriving police officers, who had been summoned by a 911 call.

First responders

Officer McIntrye testified he had just come on duty for the afternoon shift and was accompanied in his cruiser by patrolman Gregory Post, who McIntyre was supposed to drop off at Post's walking beat, when the call came from 13A Totman Drive.

The officers sped from Woburn Center to the murder scene, arriving at about the same time as fellow officer Charles Stokes Jr. pulled up in another cruiser.

They spotted Peter Presti and entered the kitchen through the side door to find a scene that was "chaotic," according to McIntyre.

Post and McIntyre were the first to go upstairs, where McIntyre described Alyssa's room as "ransacked," and "disheveled." McIntyre checked Alyssa's right wrist for a pulse, and though he found none, he said "instincts took over" and called hopefully for a medical unit from the Woburn Fire Department and then Sgt. O'Niel, who was the patrol supervisor that afternoon.

When it was deterimed Alyssa was dead, O'Niel said he ordered everyone out of the Totman Drive home and had the area sealed off as a crime scene, with Post stationed in the kitchen to keep a log of anyone who entered or left.

O'Niel said at that point he called police headquarters for the detective bureau, and eventually, a State Police crime lab unit that collected evidence for the investigation was summoned.

Defense

Laying the groundwork for his defense that police did not adequately investigate all the potential leads in the case, Stanley Norkunas, defense attorney, asked both officers about details of their actions once they went inside Joanne Presti's home.

McIntyre said neither he nor Post initially wore gloves, as they were not immediately aware of the circumstances they were about to encounter.

He said he was probably in the house for 5-10 minutes, though "it's tough to judge, because things weremoving really quick" at the time.

McIntyre said he never touched Joanne's body, nor did he further examine Alyssa after checking for a pulse. O'Niel later testified that a comforter that was initially found on the floor and then briefly used to cover Joanne Presti was once again removed from her body.

Before the house was declared a crime scene, O'Niel said "approximately five other people" had entered the home.

When detectives arrived, O'Niel said he briefed them of the situation and said "Put your gloves on."

McIntyre noted he was required to submit his shoes for photographs. In his opening statement on Wednesday, Norkunas said that police had failed to connect a mysterious "bootprint" at the murder scene to his client, despite an exhaustive examination of Bizanowicz's apartment.