Jacobs bled to death in November 2007 after being shot in the leg. As she was dying in her home, Jacobs told a sheriff's deputy two or three men had robbed her, shot her and fled in a white pick-up truck.

Reshaun Cates, whose trial begins Monday was indicted last year on charges he shot Jacobs with a 9-millimeter handgun and took $300 worth of marijuana and a shotgun from her home in Cedar Grove.

Jacobs told a 911 operator the men had come looking for Jacobs' 20-year-old son, Gabe, who was shot to death three months after his mother while driving on N.C. 86. No one has been charged in Gabe Jacobs' death. District Attorney Jim Woodall said the Sheriff's Office hasn't found any connection between the shootings.

"I can't say that there isn't," he said.

Last October, a judge ordered prosecutors to provide the defense with any evidence Eva Jacobs was dealing drugs.

Last week an Orange County sheriff's deputy unsuccessfully tried to serve Deontre Evans and his girlfriend Shakera Breeze with subpoenas to testify against Cates, the only person still facing charges in Eva Jacobs' shooting death two years ago.

"Both are trying to avoid service," reads a handwritten note stuck to the subpoena document in the court file. Evans and Breeze were among more than 40 state's witnesses subpoenaed for the trial, which is expected to last at least two weeks.

"It's a circumstantial evidence case," said Woodall. "It's also going to rest on the testimony of several witnesses who have not necessarily been willing to testify in court up until this time."

Cates has been fighting his charges for nearly two years. In November 2008, frustrated with the pace of the prosecution, Cates wrote letters to Superior Court Judge Carl Fox and the Clerk of Court. He said he wasn't complaining about his attorney's representation but that Public Defender James Williams had ignored three requests that he ask for a speedy trial.

"As a person who is not guilty of the crimes for which I am charged, I feel a need to prove my innocence as soon as possible," Cates wrote. "I don't like being restrained of my liberty or my freedom."

In January 2008, a judge had dropped the charges against Cates and Done Johnson, who with another suspect Montez Stevons were in a "9 Tre Bloods" gang together, according to court documents. At the time, District Attorney Jim Woodall said proving probable cause against the men had depended heavily on Evans' testimony, but he didn't show up for the court hearing.

According to the Cates' case file, Evans told investigators he had seen Stevons driving a white Ford pick-up truck that matched the description of a vehicle seen on Compton Road, where Jacobs lived, around the time of her murder. Evans also said he overheard Johnson talking about the incident with another witness, according to the synopsis, saying Stevons fired the shots.

An investigator also said Johnson told Evans directly that Stevons had "rushed" Jacobs outside her home while Cates and Johnson went inside for the marijuana. "Where is the rest of it?" Johnson heard Stevons ask her, according to Evans.

"When she refused to answer, Montez got impatient and shot the female and then they fled the area," an investigator wrote.

But Evans has never testified under oath in the case.

In April 2008, a grand jury indicted Cates. Deputy Jeff Ray had recognized Cates' picture at the county jail after Cates was arrested on a drug-related charge a few days after the murder. Ray said he had seen Cates trying to buy bullets at the Farm and Garden store on N.C. 86 the day before the murder and leaving in a white Ford F-150 pick-up.

That truck appears to be the only potential piece of physical evidence linking Cates to the crime. White said he also identified Cates in surveillance video trying to buy bullets at Wal-Mart the day before the murder.

Late last month, a judge approved a search warrant to compare Cates' DNA to that found on cigarette butts in the truck authorities think was used in the crime. The court also denied a defense motion earlier this month trying to ban entry of any DNA or fingerprint evidence from the truck.

"It is not reasonable for the state to provide this type of evidence under the circumstances on the eve of the trial," the defense attorney wrote.

At a hearing last week, Woodall said he wouldn't present any DNA evidence but would present testimony from a fingerprint expert suggesting a match with prints lifted from a pick-up truck. Linking Cates to the crime scene depends on circumstantially linking him to the Ford pick-up.

"That's still the type of evidence that this case is going to largely rest on," Woodall said. "If witnesses decide to change their story or ultimately they don't cooperate, you're in a real difficult position."

Williams' latest motion aims to keep an expert from testifying the tires of the truck alleged to contain Cates' prints match tracks found in Jacobs' driveway. Williams argues such evidence can't be conclusive and might mislead the jury, calling tire-tread analysis an "[un]developed science."

"There is no physical evidence known to exist that directly connected the accused with the scene of the crime," Williams wrote.