NORTHAMPTON — Annamarie Cochrane Rintala died from manual strangulation approximately six to eight hours before her body was discovered at 7:15 p.m. on March 29, 2010, the former regional medical examiner testified Friday at Cara Rintala’s murder trial in Hampshire Superior Court.

Under questioning by First Assistant District Attorney Steve Gagne and with reference to autopsy photos, forensic pathologist Joann Richmond detailed the injuries the 37-year-old Cochrane Rintala suffered and the conclusions she drew from them.

Cara Rintala, 56, is charged with killing Cochrane Rintala, her wife, at their home on Barton Street in Granby. This is the fourth time she has been tried on the charge.

The time of death is significant because police and paramedics have testified that Cara Rintala told them she last spoke with her wife around 3 p.m., or between 2 and 4 p.m. that day.

Richmond testified that strangulation blocks the flow of blood to the brain and the heart. It can cause unconsciousness in as little as 10 seconds, and death in four minutes.

“It doesn’t take much pressure to block the veins,” which carry blood from the brain, she said. “It takes a little more to block the arteries.”

Areas of abrasion across her neck, broken capillaries in the whites of her eyes, and hemorrhaging in the muscles adjacent to her larynx were all evidence of strangulation, Richmond testified. No ligature marks were seen on her neck.

Blunt force trauma to her head caused two contusions and three deep lacerations to her scalp, Richmond said. Extensive hemorrhaging of the underlying tissue suggested she was alive when the wounds were inflicted.

There were at least 23 clusters of small bruises all over Cochrane Rintala’s body, Richmond said, some of which could have been consistent with falling downstairs.

She said she could not say if Cochrane Rintala suffered a prolonged assault. There were no drugs or alcohol in her system.

Richmond explained that a forensic pathologist establishes a window of time, from the time the victim was last known to be alive to the time she was pronounced dead, and estimates time of death from the condition of the body.

“The time is expressed as a range,” she said. “We never give a precise time.”

Based on information and descriptions provided by police and paramedics on the scene, with rigor mortis well developed and lividity evident, she placed Cochrane Rintala’s time of death at six to eight hours before she was found at approximately 7:15 p.m.

Most significant, Richmond testified, was the description of the officer and paramedic who first moved the body and found it moved as one unit, with no flex to any of the muscles, and the position of the arms suspended off the floor after being rolled over from the face-down position.

“Is that degree of rigor typically seen less than six hours after death?” Gagne asked.

“No,” Richmond said.

Under questioning, she testified that onset of rigor mortis is subject to variables — heat accelerates the process, cold slows it down, and strenuous exertion before death may also accelerate it.

She said she did not attach a lot of significance to paramedics’ description of Cochrane Rintala’s skin being “ice cold” — skin exposed to the air cools fast after death and doesn’t tell much about the time frame. Core body temperature drops by 1 to 2 degrees an hour after death, but Richmond said getting a core temperature reading is too invasive and could injure the body before autopsy.

Cellphone records provided the beginning of the window for the time of death, she said.

“(Cochrane Rintala) had been texting all morning, then it comes to a complete stop,” Richmond said.

Previous testimony has established that she last used her phone at 12:21 p.m.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio asked if it would be significant that Cochrane Rintala worked nights and slept during the day.

“Did you consider she could have been asleep (after 12:21)?” she asked.

Richmond said she did not.

Scapicchio also questioned Richmond on how she learned about the reports from the paramedics and police on scene, when she first saw them, and when she formed an opinion on them.

Referring to testimony given at Rintala’s first trial, Richmond said she first saw the reports about a week before the trial.

“Was there anything different in the reports from what you’d been told?” Gagne asked on redirect.

“No,” Richmond said.

After Richmond stepped down, Judge Francis Flannery held two lengthy consultations with the attorneys and concluded by sending the jury home until Monday, telling them there had been a scheduling problem.

The commonwealth had intended to call retired State Police Detective Lt. Robin Whitney to the stand next. The attorneys were set to return to court Friday afternoon to argue a defense motion to exclude parts of Whitney’s evidence.

Staff Writer James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.

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