Family and friends took the stand today in the murder retrial of Werner Lippe.

Lippe is accused of killing his wife, Faith, and burning her body in the backyard of their home in 2008. Faith's body was never found.

Prosecutors say Lippe and his wife were in the middle of a bitter divorce and custody battle when Faith disappeared.

Her friends and family described to the jury conversations they said they had with Lippe after his wife had disappeared. Much of the testimony focused on Lippe's alleged anger and animosity toward his wife.

Seven months ago, Lippe's first murder trial ended with a hung jury after nearly 27 hours of jury deliberations.

Prosecutors: Lippe had motive, know-how to kill wife Jury selection begins in re-trial of WC man accused of killing wife New judge to be named for Lippe murder retrial Mistrial declared in Lippe murder case