News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Deputy Zac Suszek uses a portable metal detector wand on Kaitlyn Burnett before she enters the circuit courtroom on Monday. The trial for Brad Srebnik began and security was tight. Srebnik is accused of killing two women in 2021.

ALPENA — Early in day one of the trial of Brad Srebnik in 26th Circuit Court on Monday, witnesses introduced facts about Brynn Bills to the jury and some of the challenges she was going through at the time of her death.

They shared their experiences of how Bills was very social and friendly, but also addicted to drugs, with the drug of choice being methamphetamine.

Srebnik is charged in the deaths of Mio teen Brynn Bills and Alpena woman Abby Hill. Charges against him include two counts of premeditated murder, weapons charges, and disinterment and mutilation of a body.

He faces life in prison.

He denies the allegations.

The first witness of the day was Bills’ mother, Cenia Banks. She testified about the last time she talked to her daughter and how she was unable to contact her in the days around Bills’ 18th birthday in August of 2021.

Banks said she had attempted to contact her daughter but there was no response, which was unusual, and after several days, reached out to police to report her missing. She said she also reached out to people she knew were friends or acquaintances with her daughter, but nobody seemed to know of Bills’ whereabouts.

“She was troubled and into drugs, but she wanted help,” Banks said. “When she wasn’t answering her phone or the texts, especially on her birthday, I just knew something was wrong.”

Police eventually found her remains buried in the backyard of Josh Wirgau’s house.

Wirgau is charged in the destruction of Bills’ body and other felonies, but reached a plea deal that removes a murder charge for the death of Hill. He still faces 30 years in prison.

Wirgau is expected to testify against Srebnik today.

After moving from Mio to Alpena, Bills’ moved in with Chris St. Charles and some of his children. According to testimony from Jessica Showalter, who lived in the house too, St. Charles and Bills did drugs together and the man’s friends also visited and drugs were done.

Showalter eventually moved out when St. Charles moved, but Bills’ remained.

One night, Bills left a note saying she was going out with Hill, and she never returned.

Prosecutors intend to prove Srebnik strangled Bills to death at his home that night or shortly afterward and moved the body, renting an excavator to bury the body with Wirgau’s help in the backyard of Wirgau’s home.

Hill, Srebnik’s girlfriend at the time, was reported missing on Oct. 5, 2021, and her remains were found in a wooded area behind the Holcim Alpena plant on Oct. 15, 2021. Police say she was killed by a single gunshot to the head.

Many of the details surrounding the two girl’s deaths should come to light today during Wirgau’s testimony. To this point, he has not been honest with investigators and lied during his first proffer interview.

A proffer is a written agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant or prospective witness that allows the defendant or witness to give the prosecutor information about an alleged crime, while limiting the prosecutor’s ability to use that information against him or her.

Court was slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. today.