Warning: contains graphic content.
Brian Marbury, 47, has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of his estranged wife Sahra Bulle, 36.
A jury of seven women and seven men will hear the case before Justice Ian Leach.
"We will ask you to find that her killing was the culmination of a plan," Assistant Crown Attorney Jenna Wright said Tuesday in her opening statement. "He informed (Sahra) that if he was ever convinced that she would end their relationship, he would kill her so that no one else could take his place as her partner.
The prosecution believes Bulle was killed sometime between the evening of Friday May 26th and Sunday May 27th at a hotel Marbury rented on Huron Church Road.
Wright says they will call evidence from motel guests who reported a "disturbance" in the early morning hours of May 27th.
A hotel employee is expected to testify about speaking with Marbury who "appeared agitated and did not fully open the door", according to Wright.
Wright told the jury they will watch surveillance video of Marbury at two local retail stores and from a motel parking lot.
They allege Marbury purchased a shovel, bleach and garbage bags from nearby stores on Sunday May 28th before returning to the hotel.
The prosecution also intends to show surveillance video from Monday May 29th.
Wright alleges it will show Marbury using a large plastic garbage bin "with what's believed to be Ms. Bulle's body ins" and dragging it to a nearby field.
Marbury returned to Detroit on the tunnel bus after the murder, according to Wright.
The search for Sahra
On May 30th, Bulle was reported missing by staff at Windsor's Hiatus House, an emergency shelter for women impacted by intimate partner violence.
Windsor Police launched an investigation which led them to the hotel on Huron Church Road by Friday June 2nd, which ultimately lead them to Marbury, Wright said.
Bulle's body was found on June 6th, a week after she was reported missing.
According to Wright, Bulle's body was discovered "in a shallow grave with portions of her body protruding from the ground".
A forensic pathologist is expected to testify that she was unable to determine a cause of death because Bulle's remains were in an "advanced stage of decomposition", Wright told the jury.
"It will be up to all of you to decide whether the Crown, having presented evidence of a relationship full of long-standing abuse and jealousy, ending with Ms. Bulle's death and removal and burial of her body in darkness, leading to a prolonged search for her whereabouts, has proven Mr. Marbury's guilt beyond reasonable doubt."
The trial will continue Wednesday with evidence from Bulle's mother, Fartumo Kusow.