Alene Knight's killer attacked her outside her own fence, stabbing her repeatedly and severing her carotid artery.
Footprints at the Northwest Side scene indicate the killer was wearing size 8 1/2 shoes. Shad Knight, whose first-degree murder trial started Wednesday in Pima County Superior Court, wears size 13 1/2.
Knight, who turned 40 last week, is accused of stabbing his former wife to death Feb. 7.
Assistant Pima County Public Defender Michael Rosenbluth told jurors during opening statements that his client is innocent and the shoe prints surrounding the crime scene prove it.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Nanette Morrow said Knight carefully planned the slaying, right down to wearing the wrong size shoes.
Alene Knight, 35, had already been awarded the couple's Tucson house and half the proceeds from his boat, but he thought she was also trying to take his two children from him, Morrow said.
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"He had to stop her and he did this by stabbing her no less than 10 times," Morrow said.
One month before the slaying, Knight disabled the electronic gate outside his former home near North Oldfather and West Cortaro Farms roads, Morrow said.
So when Alene Knight came home around 1:30 a.m. after an evening out with her sister, she had to get out of her car to open the gate, Morrow said.
She didn't know her former husband was waiting to ambush her. He'd hidden his friend's black pickup truck behind some bushes, Morrow said.
Alene Knight was so surprised that she didn't have a chance to fight back, Morrow said. She died after being stabbed repeatedly in the chest, throat and neck.
Her body was found around 6:30 a.m. by a neighbor on her way to work.
Neighbors will testify they saw a dark pickup truck on the street outside Alene Knight's house shortly before midnight and Shad Knight's roommates own a truck matching that description, Morrow said.
In addition, Alene Knight can't be excluded as the source of a blood spot found on the truck's armrest, Morrow said.
Having lived in the house, Shad Knight knew a dark vehicle would be hard to spot behind the bushes and he knew he'd leave footprints, Morrow said.
Shad Knight also doesn't have an alibi, Morrow said.
His roommates last saw him four hours before the slaying and they'll will testify he got up unusually early that morning to wash clothes, Morrow said.
In addition, one of his friends will testify that a missing key to her truck appeared in her purse a few days after Alene Knight's death, Morrow said.
Rosenbluth told jurors the last time Shad Knight used his friend's truck was three days before the slaying. After borrowing the truck, Shad Knight placed the key on his friend's hall table, he said.
The truck sat until the key was found in the woman's purse, Rosenbluth said. The key could have been in her purse the whole time, he said.
Jurors will hear there is no way Shad Knight could have left his friends' house without them knowing it, Rosenbluth said. The couple has four dogs and an alarm system.
The Knights moved from Tucson to Washington state to start up a dinner cruise business, but when the business failed, their marriage hit the rocks, jurors were told.
Alene Knight filed for divorce in Washington before returning to Tucson with her children, Isis, Shadlene and Chad.
Shad Knight returned to Tucson later.
At the time of the slaying, the couple were battling over custody of Shadlene and Chad and Shad Knight was having to pick up his children at neutral sites, such as grocery stores and bus stops.
Judge Richard Nichols is presiding over the case, which is expected to last a couple of weeks.
