McAlester, Okla. ? Terry Nichols became frightened when he heard news reports two days after the Oklahoma City bombing that linked him to Timothy McVeigh, his second wife said Thursday.

“He was scared, mainly scared,” ex-wife Marife Torres testified in Nichols’ state murder trial. “I never seen him more scared.”

Torres also testified she had an affair with McVeigh during a visit to Nichols’ home and that she grew jealous of McVeigh because Nichols spent more time with him than with her and their daughter.

Torres said she eventually gave Nichols an ultimatum: “No more Tim McVeigh in our life.”

Nichols’ defense attorneys plan to cross-examine Torres on Monday, when the trial resumes after the long Easter weekend.

Nichols is serving a life prison sentence on involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy charges in the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people.

In Oklahoma, he faces 161 state counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of the other 160 victims and one victim’s fetus. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Nichols, accused of helping McVeigh collect components for and assemble the homemade bomb, was at his Herington, Kan., home on the day of the April 19, 1995, explosion.

Torres, a native of the Philippines, said Nichols purchased several newspapers the next day and had cable television installed.

Two days after the explosion, Nichols heard reports that linked him and his brother, James Nichols, to McVeigh and the bombing investigation. James Nichols was later indicted on explosives and conspiracy charges not related to the bombing; the charges were ultimately dropped.

The news linking him to the bombing left Terry Nichols visibly shaken, Torres said.

Nichols surrendered to authorities that day.