BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- One of the first people to find a woman suffocated and strangled with a plastic grocery bag took the stand in a Brevard County murder trial Thursday.

RC Toth is accused of killing his girlfriend, 24-year-old Mary Ayers because she was planning to go back to work as a stripper in Cocoa Beach. The woman was found partially-clothed with two clear plastic grocery bags wrapped around her head.

Toth's father and a man they'd been doing odd jobs for found the body. The man testified Thursday that the bags were tied so tight he couldn't get them off to try to save her.

"I could not get the bag. There was no way to get it off. I grabbed the bag with two hands and ripped it apart and tried to give her CPR," said witness Barry Lange.

Ayer's mother also testified. She said on the day of the murder, her daughter told her she was planning to take a job as a stripper at Lido's Cabaret in Cocoa Beach.

Toth has claimed someone broke into the house and killed her. He faces life in prison if he's convicted.