By Catherine Vespereny

Mr M admitted Monday in testimony that he and an accomplice had tied an elastic bandage around the neck of Mary C. Towey. But he said they had intended only to frighten her as a Friday the 13th joke. The prosecution charges that she was strangled in the basement of her home in Oakville. Mr. M testified the two had made no effort to kill Ms. Towey, but only to "mess with her mind." Mr. M , 19, and his alleged accomplice,Mr A, 22, both of south St. Louis, were arrested a week later in Atlanta. They gave taped and written confessions and provided directions to Ms. Towey’s body. Mr A, who also goes by the name Rony M, is to be tried on a charge of capital murder beginning April 29. The prosecutor’s office seeks the death penalty in both cases.

Mr. M also testified Monday that when he and Mr. A fled to Atlanta after the killing, they wore earrings taken from Ms. Towey’s purse. They did so, he said, to keep the pierced earring holes in their ears from closing. Mr. M said that in addition to the earrings, they had stolen a stereo, cameras, rings and a handgun from the Towey home. They pawned the goods to buy food and rent a motel room, he said. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Martin G. Towey, were away at the time at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Her father is a professor at St. Louis University, and his daughter was a student there. Defense attorney S. Lee Patton remained stymied at his attempts to bring up Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy role-playing game that has been known to become violent. Both Ms. Towey and Mr. M played the game. Patton had argued that the game was an important part of his case. Mr. M ’s sketchy testimony Monday about the game was punctuated by objections by John Chancellor, assistant county prosecutor. If convicted, Mr. M could be executed in Missouri’s gas chamber of sentenced to life in prison without parole for 50 years.