WEBSTER CITY, Iowa — Jurors were warned that they would hear disturbing details of the 2005 murder of 5-year-old Evelyn Miller.

In opening statements, prosecutors said the defendant admitted to becoming sexually aroused when he changed the little girl’s diaper.

“The evidence in this case will be that Casey Frederiksen was sexually attracted to Evelyn Miller,” said Assistant Attorney Scott Brown.

Prosecutors said Frederiksen sexually abused the little girl and killed her to cover up the crime. He’s charged with first degree murder and first degree sexual abuse. “The motive for this case is sexual and all the evidence in this case points to Casey Frederiksen,” said Brown.

Miller disappeared from her apartment in Floyd on July 1, 2005. When searchers found her body five days later, she’d been stabbed in the chest and her throat was slit.

“It was two small legs sticking up out of the water like she was laying on her back. Her knees were kind of bent up, but you pretty much knew what it was,” described Scott Katcher.

The former Charles City resident found Evelyn’s body in an area on the Cedar River known as Devils Elbow.

Frederiksen’s defense did not make opening statements, but reserved its right to do so at a later time. His attorney did take issue with some of the wording in the prosecution’s opening statements, but his motion for a mistrial was denied.

The state will call more witnesses in Hamilton County Wednesday.