MEDICINE HAT, Alta. - With eyes wide open and surrounded by blood-soaked toys, an eight-year-old boy was found dead in his own bed last April, an Alberta jury learned Tuesday.

The body was two floors up from where the boy's mother and father died, also with multiple stab wounds, in the basement of their home in the southeastern Alberta city of Medicine Hat.

Police forensics experts armed with a large binder of crime scene photos capped the second day of graphic testimony Tuesday at the first-degree murder trial of a 13-year-old girl accused of killing her parents and younger brother.

Seasoned police officers once again fought back emotion as they described the scene inside the boy's bedroom where blood was found on the door, walls and floor. There were also stains on the carpet outside leading into the hallway.

Const. Gerald Sadlemyer of the Medicine Hat Police Service told the jury how the boy was covered in blood "from head to toe'' and had a large wound on his throat.

Bloody toys -- including stuffed animals and a Star Wars light sabre -- were strewn about the room.

The accused girl, who was 12 at the time of the slayings, cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The graphic photos were not shown on the court television screen but individual binders were handed to each member of the jury. Most wore grim expressions as they gazed at the pictures; several held their heads in their hands.

The scene was just as chaotic in the basement, where the mother's body was found at the foot of the stairs clenching someone else's hair in her hand, police testified.

Sadlemyer said the mother's right hand had long hairs in it that were a light sandy colour: "It was as if she was grasping or holding onto it.''

She was clad only in a light nightgown that had been ripped and stained with blood.

In addition to 12 stabbing punctures, the woman also had numerous "defensive wounds'' that included cuts to her hands and the tips of her fingers.

Sadlemyer also testified that police found the body of her husband nearby, with stab wounds to nearly every part of his body, indicating signs of a violent struggle.

Blood stains and splatter covered almost everything in the basement, including the roof, the television, an exercise ball and the fireplace.

The jury heard how crime scene investigators found a set of self-sharpening knives on top of the kitchen microwave but one was not in its holder.

Two knives were found in the house.

One was in the upstairs bathroom with blood from the boy on it; the other was near his parents in the basement, with the tip bent and covered with blood and hair.

Fingerprint expert Const. Michael Storozuk testified that of 26 prints found on one of the window panes in the basement that police believe was "the point of entry'' for the attackers, the only recognizable ones belonged to the girl.

Storozuk also led the search of a pickup truck involved in the investigation that yielded a bag of clothes so soaked in what appeared to be blood that he had to dry them out before doing anything else.

In the truck he also found a purse and identification belonging to the slain mother.

In her opening statements on Monday, Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary suggested the young girl plotted to kill her family because they didn't like her going out with a man almost twice her age.

Cleary said evidence connecting the girl to the killings was found at the house and in a truck when police arrested her and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, in Leader, Sask., a day after the bodies were discovered.

The pair face three counts of first-degree murder, but a trial date for Steinke has not yet been set.

Court also heard police officers inspected Steinke's trailer and found trace elements of blood on the inside of the bedroom door.

The case has attracted international attention because of the young age of the accused and allegations of preteen rebellion entwined in the Goth subculture.

Steinke apparently told friends he was a 300-year-old werewolf who liked the taste of blood. The two also left an extensive Internet trail, posting pictures and messages on such websites as VampireFreaks.com.

Two others young people, 19-year-old Kacy Lancaster and a 16-year-old girl, are charged with accessory to murder for allegedly trying to help cover up the crime. Their cases are wending their way through the legal system.

The trial, slated for five weeks, continues Wednesday.