Angela Furlong is trying to recall her darkest point in the trial of the man accused of murdering her daughter.

Was it the moment she faced him in court after months of living in dread? The sight on grainy surveillance footage of her 21-year-old daughter, Nicola, bundled unconscious into a taxi, a few hours before she died? Or listening to prosecutors say Nicola was a drug user who liked "rough sex" with strangers?

Mrs. Furlong thinks it was the 19-year-old defendant's extraordinary tearful outburst on Wednesday, when he turned directly to face her and Nicola's father and said that he was "glad" they share the same belief in God. "It takes faith for you to believe in God even though you have never seen him," he told the clearly surprised pair. "So it takes the very same faith to believe these words coming out of my mouth."