Queensland woman Toyah Cordingley may still have been alive when she was buried on a remote beach, a court has heard.
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.
Rajwinder Singh, 40, has pleaded not guilty to the 24-year-old's murder at the Supreme Court in Cairns.
It's alleged Mr Singh killed Ms Cordingley at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, on October 21, 2018.
In his opening address to the jury, Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crane said Ms Cordingley was at the beach exercising and walking her dog the day she was killed.
"No-one saw it; no-one saw her, and no-one saw her killer getting away," he told the court.
Ms Cordingley suffered an incision that cut her windpipe and ran "from one side of her neck to the other side" and had "defensive" injuries on her hands and side from a sharp object, Mr Crane said.
"She was left with those injuries with no hope of surviving," he said.
The last anyone heard from Ms Cordingley was a text message she sent to her boyfriend, Marco Heidenreich, at 3:17pm that afternoon.
The court heard Ms Cordingley told him she was picking up a friend from the airport later that evening, but never arrived.
By 7pm, calls to Toyah were going straight to voicemail.
Mr Heidenreich called triple-0 and raised the alarm with friends after finding her unlocked car at the beach car park on his way home from Port Douglas.
Ms Cordingley's parents, brother and boyfriend searched for hours along the beach for her later that night and into the next morning.
Her father Troy found her buried in a mound near a sand dune, the court heard, where it's believed she had been for 14 hours.
Ms Cordingley was found in her bikini, the court heard, with no phone, wallet, bag or towel.
Her dog Indie was tied up tightly to a tree about 30 metres into dense scrub.
"These are factors the Crown will say is an attempt by the killer to distance themselves from the commission of this murder," Mr Crane told the jury.
No speculation about motive
Mr Crane told the jury that while there was evidence of a struggle or confrontation in the lead-up to Ms Cordingley's death, the Crown did not know — and would not speculate — about the motive of the killing.
"What the focus in this trial is from the Crown, is proof of the actual elements of the offence of murder and that Mr Singh was the one who did it," Mr Crane said.
Phone records will be used to show Toyah's phone left Wangetti Beach after she was killed, the court heard.
Jury to visit Wangetti Beach
It took several hours to select a jury, with prospective jurors given a questionnaire before the empanelment to assess their suitability to sit on the high-profile trial.
Eight men and four women have been chosen to sit on the jury, with three reserve jurors to also sit through the trial.
On Tuesday, jurors were shown a list of more than 460 potential witnesses who could be called to give evidence.
On the witness list were Ms Cordingley's parents Vanessa Gardiner and Troy Cordingley, her siblings Leynah and Jack, and boyfriend Marco Heidenreich.
Mr Singh's sister Balwinder Singh was also on the list.
In addition to 347 potential civilian witnesses, there are almost 100 police witnesses who could be called to give evidence, along with several experts in DNA and telecommunications.
Justice James Henry addressed jurors, urging them to ignore media coverage and warning them not to undertake their own investigations.
The jury was told they would be taken for a visit to Wangetti Beach, about 40 minutes north of Cairns, during the trial.
Mr Singh's barrister Angus Edwards KC said it would involve "quite a walk" of "some kilometres".
The jury was shown drone footage of the isolated, 4 kilometre stretch of beach.
Mr Crane will continue his opening address when the trial continues on Wednesday.
The trial is expected to run for at least four weeks.
