LAS VEGAS — Dixie Tienken's home is always open to former students seeking guidance.

But when one student, Kirstin Blaise Lobato, came knocking one morning in July 2001, Tienken became more than a confidante; she became the key witness in Lobato's murder trial.

Tienken testified Friday that a visibly upset Lobato, then 18, told her, "I've done a lot of things in my life and one of those things is a bad thing."

Over the next three hours at Tienken's residence in Panaca, Nev., Lobato proceeded to explain what that "bad thing" was.

Prosecutors allege Lobato told her former alternative high school teacher about the night she mutilated and murdered 43-year-old Duran Bailey in a parking lot in Las Vegas on July 8, 2001.

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They contend Lobato was on a three-day methamphetamine binge when she ran out of money and attempted to exchange sex for drugs with Bailey.

When Lobato realized Bailey didn't have any drugs, she allegedly stabbed him and beat him with a baseball bat until he died.

Prosecutors also alleged that Bailey cut off his penis and stabbed him in the rectum.

Tienken's recollection of what Lobato told her differs greatly from what prosecutors claim.

She said Lobato went from laughter to tears as she told her that she was in a dark parking lot when an "old, black, smelly and big" man approached her. Lobato told her "he eventually knocked her down and tried to rape her," Tienken said.

"At first she tried to stab up with a knife that she had on her person, but she couldn't get any leverage," Tienken said. 

The man "laughed at her and tried to sit up on her shoulders," which allowed her to "grab his penis, slash it and cut it off," according to Tienken.

She said Lobato was able to get up, push and run back to her car. When she got inside her car, she was able to see the "man standing."

After hearing the story, Tienken relayed it to her friend Laura Johnson, a juvenile probation officer in Lincoln County.

Johnson then called the Las Vegas police to see if they had any unsolved crimes involving a man whose penis had been cut off, and officers quickly drove up to Panaca to interview Lobato.

Tienken grew hostile on the stand toward prosecutor Sandra DiGiacomo as she tried to offer her unsolicited opinion about what happened to Lobato.

Tienken said she didn't believe Lobato cut off a man's penis or that she had murdered her attacker.

She also said that she felt pressured by police and prosecutors during the initial questioning and subsequent testimony in the case.

Tienken was ordered to return to court Monday to resume her testimony, but she never returned.

A former neighbor and friend of Lobato in Panaca testified that Lobato had told her a similar story.

Michele Austria testified that Lobato said "she was in Las Vegas and had been attacked by someone and proceeded to slash his penis."

Austria said Lobato told her she was depressed and "suicidal" as a result of the incident because she wasn't sure if the man who attacked her was dead or alive.

Throughout both her direct and cross-examination, however, Austria said Lobato never specifically told her when the attack occurred.

Austria said Lobato shared the story with her while sitting on her back porch during either the weekend before or the weekend after July 4, 2001.

Lobato contends she was telling Tienken and Austria about an incident that happened close to Memorial Day 2001, and not July 8, when Bailey was murdered.

During her first trial, Lobato, who has no prior criminal history, testified she didn't report the May incident because she once reported being raped and was "blown off" by police.

Lobato, now 23, was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual penetration of a corpse for Bailey's murder on May 18, 2002, and later sentenced to 40 to 100 years in prison.

The Nevada Supreme Court, however, granted her a new trial in September 2004, citing the trial judge's failure to admit evidence that could have weakened the credibility of a jailhouse informant.

Lobato's retrial is being covered live by Court TV Extra.