MIAMI -- A schoolmate testified Tuesday that Michael Hernandez tried to lure him into a bathroom on the day before Jaime Gough was found slain in a stall.

Hernandez is accused of fatally stabbing Gough in a bathroom at Southwood Middle School in 2004.

Andre Martin, a former Southwood student, said Hernandez tried luring him into a school restroom.

"Back on Feb. 2, 2004, did you feel as if your life was in danger?" a prosecutor asked.

"No," Martin said.

Now an 18-year-old college freshman, Martin shed light on how Hernandez became distant during their eighth-grade year. Martin said Hernandez idolized the villains from the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" horror films.

"He said it would be cool to be a serial killer one day," Martin said Hernandez told him in sixth grade, when the two boys were close friends.

Hernandez's behavior changed over the next few years at Southwood Middle School, Martin said. Hernandez withdrew socially, obsessed about exercise and told Martin and Gough that he believed he was mentally ill.

"Michael diagnosed himself as schizophrenic and having obsessive compulsive disorder," Martin said. "He just told us he believed he had those two mental illnesses."

Prosecutors have said Hernandez was executing a meticulously documented plan to kill Gough, Martin and Hernandez' own sister.

Defense attorney Richard Rosenbaum has argued that Hernandez was and is insane and not criminally responsible for the slaying. Hernandez faces life in prison if convicted. His trial was moved from Miami because of extensive media coverage.

Martin testified Tuesday that he and Gough met Hernandez in the second-floor bathroom on Feb. 2, 2004, Hernandez' 14th birthday. He said Hernandez told them he wanted to show Martin something in the handicapped stall. But Martin said he balked and suggested Hernandez show Gough first.

Martin said the situation seemed "odd" and "a bit off." He wondered why Hernandez wore a red jacket and baseball-style cap while standing outside the stall. Then the school bell rang for first-period classes, and the three boys agreed to meet there again the next day.

But Martin said he forgot that meeting and attended a business club class instead on Feb. 3. After Gough's body was found that morning, school and police officials "locked down" the campus. It wasn't until Martin got home that he saw a television news account of Gough being killed in the bathroom. He then notified police, who were questioning Hernandez.

"I thought possibly it could have been me the day before," Martin testified.

He said Hernandez had been an intelligent student with a variety of interests that included the Bible, cars, martial arts, video games and rap music. He said Hernandez had had a weight problem, but also had girlfriends in seventh grade before suddenly becoming more introverted and serious by eighth grade.

Rosenbaum asked Martin if he believed Hernandez was insane in February 2004.

"Insane? No," Martin replied. "But in my opinion, prior to the incident, he wasn't mentally stable. But not insane."

Detective Says He Found Bloody Knife In Hernandez's Bookbag

On the witness stand on Tuesday, Miami-Dade police Detective Fernando Suco said he found a hidden compartment beneath the classroom materials in Hernandez's bag.

"I felt what appeared to be a hard, long object inside the backpack," Suco said. "Something was there, so that's when I started looking even closer at the backpack."

Suco told the court that he ultimately found a bloodied knife in Hernandez's bookbag on the day of Gough's death.

"It appeared to be slightly bent, the blade itself," Suco said.

Jurors were shown the knife and the bloodstained latex gloves and windbreaker that prosecutors said Hernandez was wearing when he killed Gough.

Hernandez's videotaped confession was played in its entirety for the first time in the courtroom on Monday, making some jurors uncomfortable. The tape shed some light on why Hernandez picked Gough to lure into the bathroom stall on that fateful day, Local 10's Terrell Forney reported.

"Why did you choose Jaime, your friend?" Detective Salvatore Garafalo asked Hernandez during the confession in 2004.

"He was the easiest out of anybody because he would've followed me because we're such good friends," Hernandez said.