Gloves very similar to a pair worn by Mabel Greineder's killer were discovered hidden in a doghouse behind the woman's home, days after she was murdered in a placid suburban park, a police chief testified.

The testimony dealt a heavy blow to renowned Boston-area doctor Dirk Greineder, who faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder for killing his wife.

"There was an object on the upper left hand corner of the doghouse on a two by four. It was dark at the time and I used my flashlight to illuminate the object," Wellesley Chief of Police Terrence Cunningham recalled on the stand. "They appeared to be brown cloth work gloves with the textured palm and fingers."

Before asking the chief about the gloves, Prosecutor Richard Grundy gave him another pair found near the crime scene in order to highlight their similarities. The other gloves were recovered along with two alleged murder weapons from storm drains in the Morses Pond Recreation Area in Wellesley, where the prosecution says Greineder killed his wife on October 31, 1999.

Dr. Dirk Greineder at the defense table

Grundy has claimed that the doctor wanted to more freely live a secret life marked by trysts with call girls and an obsession with pornography.

The defense says the couple separated on a morning walk through the park after Mabel hurt her back. When Greineder left his wife to exercise their dog, an unknown killer struck, lawyer Martin Murphy claimed during opening statements.

The gloves taken from the Greineder doghouse weren't the only items recovered that could be linked to evidence found at the crime scene.

Plastic "Ziplock" bags, a pair of surgical gloves, and a loaf pan were found near Mabel Greineder's body. The prosecution claims that Greineder had planned to use the items to dispose of evidence.

Cunningham testified that similar bags, gloves and pans were found at the Greineder home. But during cross-examination, Murphy attacked the relevance of the connections made between the items.

"This receipt reflects the purchase of a large loaf pan … on November 8, 1999? And that was eight days after the murder in this case?" he asked Cunningham.

Murphy did not get to finish cross-examining the police chief before court adjourned for the day.

But in the morning, he scored several key points during his cross-examination of another prosecution witness, police lab scientist Gwen Pino.

The forensic specialist tested several pieces of evidence for blood in the days after the murder.

A prosecution witness, who saw Greineder walking toward the storm drain where the bloodied murder weapons and a glove were found, testified last week that the doctor was not holding anything but was wearing a red backpack.

Gwen Pino on the stand

But Pino said the only blood on the backpack was found on the exterior of the backpack.

"(The stains) are clearly visible to you as you look at the outside of the backpack, is that right?" Murphy pressed her.

"Yes," Pino firmly replied before adding that no blood was found on any of the other items in the backpack, including three tennis balls, three dog leashes, and a pair of dish washing gloves.

Greineder says he found his wife's body and tried to help her, getting blood all over himself in the process, and explaining any blood on the backpack.

One of the key prosecution points throughout the trial has been an absence of blood on Greineder's hands, which Grundy has repeatedly claimed is consistent with him wearing gloves during the murder and then disposing of them.

But Pino, the crime lab specialist, testified that Greineder may indeed have had blood on his hands.

While she said that police never asked her to test Greineder's hands, she was given several clippings from Greineder's fingernails to examine. The scientist found trace evidence that she said was probably blood.

Testimony resumes Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. The trial has been moved to a new courtroom — the same location where the famous trial of Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti was held in 1927.

The trial is being broadcast on Court TV.