Emma Caldwell’s body was found in a remote area of South Lanarkshire five weeks after she went missing.
The man accused of murdering Emma Caldwell was “as white as a sheet” after being interviewed by a BBC Scotland journalist about the murder.
One of Ian Packer’s former partners told the High Court in Glasgow that Packer looked as if he had been “discovered”.
Samantha Pauling asked him for a documentary in February 2019.
Mr Packer, 51, denies 46 charges involving multiple women, including the 2005 murder of 27-year-old Mr Caldwell.
The witness, now 49, met Mr Packer in 2012 and had lived with him since then.
She was asked on Wednesday about an interview Mr. Packer conducted with Ms. Pauling for a documentary about the murder of Emma Caldwell.
The woman said she accompanied him to the interview but was not allowed to be present during the interview.
Prosecutor Richard Goddard questioned her about Mr Packer’s “demeanor” after their second interview in 2019.
“His face was gray. He walked to the cafe 15 to 20 minutes after the interview,” she said.
“He was as white as a sheet. I could tell something was terribly wrong. It was like everything was closing in on him.
“He was saying, ‘They’re blaming me for Emma.’ They kept asking the same questions over and over again.
“My gut feeling was, this is not going to go away.”
The woman later said: “His face said he was found. That’s the only word I can describe.”
Mr. Goddard testified that Mr. Caldwell had been a “hot topic” since they had known each other.
“First of all, did he insist to you where Emma was when she went missing?” he said.
The woman answered, “He said he was taking care of her at home (with an acquaintance’s child).”
Ian Packer is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow
Asked whether Mr Packer’s “story” had later changed, she said he had commented that he was “at work in Aberdeen or something”.
Mr Packer’s lawyer Ronnie Renucci KC later asked the witness how shocked Mr Packer appeared after the interview.
“I mean, you see he’s saying they’re being blamed for the murder of Emma Caldwell. If someone’s blaming you for that, isn’t that good for you?” Don’t you have one?” he said.
Earlier in her evidence, the woman accused Mr Packer of strangling her while she was lying in bed after an argument.
She said: “I just closed my eyes and couldn’t move. What else could I do?”
“I was frozen, waiting for it to be over. He grabbed me by the windpipe with both hands and squeezed really, really hard.”
She said Mr Packer’s face was “completely blank” while he was doing this, but then it was as if a “light went on” and he stopped and walked out of the room. He said he went.
He did not give any explanation as to why he did this.
The trial continues before Lord Beckett.