They don't even know how Beverley

Watson died, but Fulton County prosecutors hope to convince a jury that

her husband Jim, a former Riverdale police officer, murdered her.

The case may be a tough sell

since the only reported "physical" evidence in the case are

the remains of Beverley Watson's body that were collected by the Fulton

County Police Department from a wooded area in Fairburn in 1999.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys

questioned potential jurors about their biases Monday and Tuesday before

a Fulton Superior Court judge. A panel is expected to be chosen by midweek

to hear evidence alleging that Watson murdered his wife.

He told detectives that, after

an argument at their Fayette home, his wife left in a huff and disappeared

on foot the night of Jan. 17, 1997, taking no baggage and leaving behind

her purse, car keys and vehicle. Neither of the couple's two children

was present during the argument.

In court during pretrial hearings

last week, Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Sheila Ross said

police only recovered 12 of Mrs. Watson's bones when her remains were

discovered.

Judging by the courtroom activity

two days before the trial, the case will likely come down to the believability

of witnesses. Prosecutors hope Judge T. Jackson Bedford will allow several

of Beverley Watson's close friends to testify that she told them if she

ever disappeared without their children to suspect her husband had her

killed.

Those friends also testified

that Beverley Watson told them of several occasions where Jim Watson injured

or threatened her. One time, after she suffered a broken arm, Beverley

Watson reportedly told them her husband had pushed her down the stairs.

Ross argued that Beverley Watson's

friends should be allowed to testify in court because Georgia's courts

have ruled "in homicide cases they will not silence the victim forever."

The Watsons' daughter, Ashley

Watson, rebutted testimony of her mother's friends, telling the court

that her mother broke her arm after slipping on a pillow in the hallway

just outside her bedroom, which was supposedly Beverley Watson's original

account.

Beverley Watson's friends testified

that she always told them a different story when her husband was around.

She would share her claims of abuse in private places such as the ladies

room or a vehicle when Jim Watson wasn't around, they said.

During her testimony, Ashley

Watson, who's now 18, portrayed a peaceful existence between her mother

and father. Under tough questioning, she often indicated she couldn't

remember specific details, but she did recall that her mother told her

she and Jim Watson were separating at one time because "they felt

it would help the marriage to spend some time apart."

Testifying with no visible

emotion about her deceased mother, Ashley Watson said she didn't think

that was odd at the time, noting that she was much younger when the "separation"

talk took place.

Beverley Watson's close friends

testified that she had told the children just before her disappearance

in 1997 that she planned to move out of the family's home. Ashley Watson

recalled her mother telling her that she and brother Todd would split

time between both parents.

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