Several witnesses testified in court Wednesday that a Lyndora man accused of killing his girlfriend did so over an argument.

The non-jury murder trial against Ishemer Ramsey, 23, continued into its third day featuring several witnesses, and two co-defendants, who knew Ramsey before he was arrested in 2017 for allegedly killing his girlfriend, Melissa Barto, on June 8, 2017 .The trial is being heard by Common Pleas Court Judge William Shaffer

The day opened with a friend of Ramsey's, Joshua Bowser, recalling the events that led to Ramsey allegedly borrowing his tan Pontiac Grand Am to dump Barto's body in a Lawrence County Field in June 2017. The day's proceedings also included two key witnesses offering conflicting testimony about how many times Barto was shot.

With a nonjury trial, it is up to Shaffer to determine if Ramsey is guilty.

On June 11, state police pulled Bowser out of his job to question him.

Bowser testified under direct questioning from District Attorney Terri Schultz that he thought police wanted to talk to him “for me being a dumb kid.”

The day before he had been getting drunk with another friend, Nathan Lewis Brown Jr., and riding quad vehicles while shooting guns.

But when they asked him about his relationship with Ramsey, Bowser knew it was for a much more serious issue.

Barto's half-burned body was discovered the previous day on a Neshannock Township farm just outside New Castle.

Bowser is charged with felony hindering apprehension and misdemeanor conspiracy counts to abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence after allegedly allowing Ramsey to use his vehicle to transport Barto's body across the county line into neighboring Lawrence County.

He explained Wednesday how the arrangement was made while a courtroom packed with Barto's family, Ramsey's family and curious onlookers listened.

Bowser testified that he and Brown met up with Ramsey on June 8 at a parking lot in Butler's Island neighborhood. There, Ramsey got out of his silver Hyundai Tiburon and got into Bowser's Pontiac Grand Am.

“Ramsey goes, 'wooo, we need to talk, boys',” Bowser recalled his conversation with Ramsey. “'You guys aren't going to believe this. I killed six people.'”

Bowser said he brushed it off as a joke.

“(Brown) starts freaking out a bit. He's a bit of a hypochondriac, and I wish I had been like that too,” Bowser said.

Bowser and Ramsey got out of the Grand Am and got into the Tiburon.

“I noticed mud all over inside the car,” Bowser said. “(Ramsey” was covered in mud as well.”

Bowser said that Ramsey told him that he had gotten into an argument with Barto earlier that day.

“'I think she's cheating on me, man, and I'm going to find the guy,'” Bowser recalled Ramsey telling him.

This is just an excerpt. For the full story - including testimony from co-defendant James Howard-George - pick up Thursday's Butler Eagle or subscribe online.