Louisburg, N.C. — A judge on Thursday denied a motion to move the trial in a 2006 slaying out of Franklin County.

Robert Pastuer is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his ex-wife, Narskelsky Angelean Pastuer, 52, of Zebulon.

Her body was found in the trunk of her car off U.S. Highway 1 near Franklinton on Dec. 7, 2006. She had been reported missing by her daughter a month earlier.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued that the trial should be moved out of Franklin County because of extensive pre-trial publicity. Robert Pasteur's attorneys also failed to convince a judge that his past criminal record be kept out of the trial.

Before her disappearance, Narskelsky Pastuer took out a domestic-violence protection order against her ex-husband, authorities said.