UNION • A jury found a Pacific man guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the killing and dismemberment of his girlfriend in 2009.

The jury of 11 women and one man returned their verdict against Vernell Loggins Jr., 39, Thursday morning after deliberating about six hours Wednesday.

Jurors had the option to convict Loggins of second-degree murder, but they agreed with prosecutors, who said Loggins showed "cool reflection" and deliberation in the stabbing death of Stephanie Fields, 25.

David Kenyon, a public defender, had argued Fields was killed in the middle of a fight and that there was no deliberation.

The sentencing phase, in which the jury will decide whether to recommend the death penalty, began this morning after the verdict.

Maintenance workers found parts of Fields' body Nov. 3, 2009, in a trash can left next to a bin at the Monroe Woods Apartments north of Interstate 44 near the Pacific exit, where Loggins, a trucker, lived.

Jurors on Monday saw graphic photos of Fields' body stuffed into the trash can under ice cubes with the lid glued shut, and of cut marks made to her bones. Her head and forearms had been cut off and were not in the trash can.

Mary Case, chief medical examiner of St. Louis County who performed the autopsy on Fields, testified that Fields had been stabbed 25 times and that her killer had also tried to cut off her right leg. Fields also had suffered badly bruised buttocks not long before her death, Case said.

Bags recovered from the trash bin contained a label from a new trash can, three empty ice bags, Walmart receipts for the can, mail addressed to Loggins and glue.

Jurors also saw a video from the Walmart in Eureka that showed a man buying that type of trash can, Tide laundry detergent and carpet cleaner about 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2009. That man, who wore a Cardinals baseball hat, left in an SUV registered to Loggins, court documents say. A man wearing the same hat returned that evening to buy glue.

Fields' blood was found in every room of Loggins' apartment, even in the ceiling fan. A shower curtain found in a Dumpster was soaked in her blood as well and there was no shower curtain in Loggins' apartment when police searched it.