NEW YORK — In the two hours before she was brutally killed, a topless dancer received at least 12 phone calls from her estranged boyfriend, according to evidence in the man's murder trial.

Jurors learned Thursday that 21-year-old Catherine Woods received a call from Paul Cortez at 5:56 p.m. on Nov. 27, 2005, according to cellphone records.

The aspiring Broadway dancer — who became a stripper to make ends meet — returned her ex-boyfriend's calls twice and checked her voice mail at 6:03 p.m.

About 30 minutes later, Woods' roommate called police to report the discovery of her mutilated body in her bedroom. Her throat had been slashed so deeply that her head was nearly decapitated.

Manhattan district attorneys contend that an "obsessive" Cortez, 26, killed her after she tried to end their relationship, which began in 2004 at a gym where he worked as a personal trainer.

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But defense lawyers say Cortez was simply worried about Woods and the risky lifestyle she was leading. In her opening statement, defense lawyer Dawn Florio promised the panel that the defendant will take the stand to tell his story.

Dressed in a loose-fitting black suit with his short hair pulled back in a ponytail, Cortez scrutinized each exhibit and conferred with his attorneys during the testimony of several telephone company representatives who took the stand Thursday.

Prosecutors introduced the cellphone records to bolster their contention that Cortez was not only obsessed with Woods, but that he was in her neighborhood around the time of her murder.

T-Mobile Records Custodian Gabriel Dominguez testified that after the couple's initial split in October, Cortez called Woods 57 times on Oct. 19.

One week later, he called her 47 times in one day.
 
On the day Woods was killed, the records indicated that the calls from Cortez to Woods were routed through a cell tower about two city blocks away from her Upper East Side apartment.

Inside the apartment, investigators also found a bloody fingerprint which a forensic analyst identified Thursday as belonging to Cortez.

NYPD fingerprint technician Annabelle Branigan told the jury of five men and 10 women that she compared a known sample from Cortez to a print lifted from Woods' bedroom wall.

"I came to the conclusion that this print in the Sheetrock matched the No. 7 print from Paul Cortez," testified Annabelle Branigan. "They're one and the same, a positive identification."

A DNA analyst identified Woods as the source of the blood containing the print. Cortez's blood was not found at the scene.

During cross-examination, Cortez's lawyer questioned the methods used to make the print comparison.

Branigan admitted that she did not examine the actual print or the Sheetrock that contained the print. Instead, she said she compared a photograph of the print to a card of Cortez's prints.

But the witness refused to concede to the lawyer's suggestion that two people might have identical prints.

"That is not possible," she said.

Testimony resumes Friday. Cortez faces up to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.