ATLANTA -- Prosecutors on Wednesday continued to work to estabish race as a motive for the murder of a young mother in Union City eight years ago.

Chiman Rai, 68, a native of India, is accused of masterminding the plot to have Sparkle Michelle Reid Rai killed because he did not approve of his son marrying outside of his race.

Four witnesses took the stand for the prosecution Wednesday morning, including a former neighbor of the victim who was there when her body was discovered by her husband in April 2000.  Benton Douglas described the demeanor of Ricky Rai after he found his wife strangled and stabbed inside their apartment.  The couple's infant daughter was found unharmed near her mother's body.

"Calm, cool, and collected, saying her name was Michelle, whatever, Reid.  He described what we all saw and he was just too calm and I asked him to leave," said Douglas.

"You asked him to leave your apartment?" asked prosecutor Sheila Ross.

"I gave him his baby, so Charlene handed him the baby," Douglas said.

"Did he leave your apartment?" Ross asked.

"Yes, because I escorted him out of my apartment."

The victim's father-in-law is accused of paying $10,000 to a hitman to have Sparkle Rai murdered because he disapproved of the marriage. 

A former private detective also took the stand Wednesday and testified that Chiman Rai hired him to find his son a year before the murder because Ricky left town with one of the family's cars and some money.  The detective said the elder Rai told him at the time that he was trying to arrange a marriage for one of his other children.

"He explained that the arranging of the marriage may be difficult because of the relationship that Ricky had at that time with his girlfriend," Bob Roberts said.

"Did he explain to you why arranging the marriage would be difficult because of Rick's relationship with the girlfriend?" the prosecutor asked.

"The verbiage was, I can't remember all of it. I just remember there was difficulty because of the girlfriend either being pregnant or her race," Roberts said.

Ricky Rai testified on Tuesday that he tried to keep his relationship with Sparkle a secret from his parents because he knew they would not approve.  He has since remarried an Indian woman.  He signed over custody of his daughter to Sparkle Rai's stepmother, 11Alive Kids and Schools Reporter Donna Lowry, and Sparkle's father.