SKOWHEGAN — The trial of an Industry man charged with slaying 20-year-old Rita St. Peter more than 32 years ago got under way Thursday in Somerset County Superior Court with opening statements.

Jay A. Mercier, 57, of Industry is charged with murder in connection with the death of St. Peter, who was found dead off Campground Road in Anson on July 5, 1980.

A jury of five men and nine women, including two alternates, will decide Mercier’s guilt or innocence in what appears to be the oldest cold case brought to trial in Maine, according to the Maine attorney general’s office. The trial is scheduled to end late next week.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson is prosecuting the case. Skowhegan attorneys John Alsop and John Martin, both of Skowhegan, are acting as Mercier’s co-counsels.

Because the case is 32 years old, both sides will face challenges different from those in fresher cases, Alsop said last week.

“There are a lot of witnesses that are no longer around, favorable and unfavorable [to us],” he said. “There are sketchy memories. Those are the kinds of things one would expect.”

According to an affidavit filed by Maine State Police Detective Bryant Jacques, St. Peter was last seen alive during the late evening hours of July 4, 1980, near the bridge leading from Madison to Anson. Her body was found about 500 feet off Campground Road in Anson during the early morning hours the next day, according to previously published reports.

Snow-tire-type tire tracks were found near St. Peter’s body. An autopsy report said St. Peter was run over by a vehicle, but some of her injuries were caused by a different weapon, Jacques said in the affidavit. Sexual contact samples were taken during the autopsy.

Witnesses told police that Mercier was seen in his 1980 GMC pickup truck in the general area during the general time when St. Peter left a bar to walk or hitchhike home, according to previous reports.

The prosecution is expected to present DNA evidence linking Mercier to St. Peter and tire tracks it has said match those on the defendant’s truck. Ink impressions of Mercier’s tires were taken the day after the St. Peter’s body was found, according to previous reports.

The Somerset County grand jury indicted Mercier for murder on Sept. 16, 2011. He was arrested at his home on Sept. 28 and pleaded not guilty on Oct. 6. Mercier was denied bail in January and has been held at the Somerset County Jail in East Madison since his arrest.

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