One of the last people to see a Lawrence woman alive before she was fatally beaten this summer was a key witness Thursday at a preliminary hearing in District Court.

But Frank Mallonee testified he didn’t remember much of that day because in the hours leading up to the death, he and a friend had consumed whiskey and somewhere around 47 beers between the two of them.

Mallonee testified that sometime during daylight hours of July 29, after his all-night drinking binge, Linda Begay came to his trailer at Gaslight Village, 1900 W. 31st St., drank about 16 ounces of whiskey, took off her clothes, and passed out in a bed. Mallonee said he tried to have sex with Begay but couldn’t because he was too intoxicated, but police say he admitted having sex with Begay when he gave a statement after the death.

Begay’s boyfriend, Christopher Belone, 35, is charged with her murder. Prosecutors allege he came to the trailer where Begay was sleeping, pulled her out of bed and beat her with a wooden object. She died three days later.

The hearing, meant to determine whether there’s enough evidence to put Belone on trial, will continue next Thursday.