Defense attorneys this afternoon began making their case for accused wife killer Martin K. Miller.

The prosecution attorneys finished presenting their evidence and testimony at 3:40 p.m. The last prosecution witness was Lawrence Police Det. Scott Slifer. He gave testimony about evidence discovered on Miller’s computer.

Earlier today, the mistress of the well-known Lawrence man charged with strangling his wife took the stand to describe the secrecy of their affair.

Carrie Parbs, a woman that Martin K. Miller met online, testified about the regular sexual encounters she had with Miller in the years leading up to the death of Miller’s ex-wife, Mary E. Miller.

Parbs said that in December 2001, she moved from Roeland Park to Eudora so that it would be easier to get together with Miller. The two went as far as getting a false Eudora phone listing for her under the name “Fred and Randi Peters.”

Parbs testified the couple got together on Saturdays under the pretext that Miller was having a Bible study with Fred Peters. They occasionally would study the Bible before engaging in sexual activity that included role-playing, bondage, spanking, and taking photographs.

“Mary and I were so different. He felt like he had found in me what he had been looking for,” Parbs said. “Things like outward affection, affirmation of the things he did… being more adventurous.”

Parbs is testifying as a witness for prosecutors, who are trying to show that Miller, a carpenter and former leader at Veritas Christian School, wanted to kill his wife so he could pursue alternative lifestyles. It is the third day of testimony in his trial on a charge of first-degree murder.

Parbs testified that she and Miller often went on out-of-town trips under the pretext that Miller was going to woodworking conferences or other events. In 2002, they had a “commitment ceremony” and exchanged rings during a camping trip.

Parbs testified Miller often told her he planned to divorce his wife. At one point, he said it would be happening in a matter of weeks, but he changed his mind and told her it wouldn’t happen until their junior-high-aged children were grown up.

A few weeks before Mary Miller’s death in July 2004, Parbs and Martin Miller got a jacuzzi suite in St. Joseph, Mo. to celebrate the two-year anniversary of their commitment.

“He told (his family) that Fred and Randi Peters were moving and that they’d asked for his help,” Parbs testified.