In his opening statement to jurors last week, William Page's defense attorney told them they should disregard the recorded statement his client made to police in which he admitted to leaving his nearly 2-year-old daughter in sub-freezing temperatures to die.

Christopher Patarini told jurors his client had been repeatedly interrogated, was isolated and worried about the little girl when he gave the false confession.

But the prosecution played the eight-minute recording in court on Monday, and Mr. Page didn't sound upset or worried.

In a calm, matter-of-fact voice, he described for two Allegheny County homicide detectives what he did in the early morning of Feb. 3, 2007.

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PG AUDIO

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Listen to the police interview with William Page.

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At the end of the statement, Mr. Page even praised the detectives for being so good to him.

"Y'all dudes are excellent," he said. "I don't feel like you guys are trying to pressure me. Y'all been good to me."

In the statement, recorded four days after Nyia Page was reported missing -- and three days after her body was found in an overgrown area in Rankin -- Mr. Page told investigators that he woke up about 3 a.m. on the morning in question and went down into the basement of his home in Braddock.

He started drinking brandy, and then his daughter came down.

"I was so frustrated with her to keep tearing up them Pampers," he said. "I told her, 'Boonie, stop, stop, stop. You gotta stop this. As soon as I sent her upstairs, she came back down. I was so mad she kept tearing up them Pampers."

When the toddler wouldn't listen, Mr. Page explained that he kicked her between her legs, and she started to bleed. He said he tried to make it stop by applying pressure with a t-shirt, Terrible Towel and his fingers.

"I got scared," he continued. "I wrapped her up in a blanket. I wrapped her up real tight," and then he put on his coat and walked out the front door.

"I stood there for a second. I was crying, and she was crying. And I thought I'd put her up by the sewer, and I just said no. I started walking down the tracks, walking down the tracks, thinking where am I gonna put her at."

Then, he put her down, with the blanket around her.

"I wrapped it again, tight enough, so if she did get up -- she had to work her way out of that blanket," he said. "She was crying, man. She was crying. I start crying. I just took off down the tracks and went home."

Later, he continued, "I left her in the weeds."

He walked a short distance away and listened to her cry for 10 minutes, Mr. Page said, "telling her how sorry I am. 'Cause I am sorry. That I am. I am sorry."

During his testimony, Detective Robert Opferman said a child's footprints led to the spot where Nyia's body was found.

He also told Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli that Mr. Page never explained why he left his daughter out in the cold, wearing nothing but a sweater and diaper.

The death-penalty case before Allegheny County Judge David R. Cashman will continue today. Mr. Page is expected to testify later this week.

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