Stuart Campbell, 44, of Grays, Essex, denies abducting and murdering Danielle Jones.
Danielle disappeared on 18 June last year near her home in East Tilbury, Essex, after she set off to catch a school bus.
Prosecutors earlier told Chelmsford Crown Court that Mr Campbell twice sent text messages from Danielle's mobile to his own phone in an effort to deflect suspicion from himself after her disappearance.
Kay Hahn, a neighbour of the builder, told the court he had one phone with a black cover and another with a distinctive blue cover while he was installing decking at her home.
Phone on ledge
Mrs Hahn said he was using the phone with the black cover which he usually used.
But the witness said she also noticed another phone with a material blue cover with a yellow smiley face and the words "My dad" on it on a window ledge outside her house.
The day after Danielle disappeared, Mr Campbell told Mrs Hahn he had had a text message from the missing girl, she told the court.
"He said she had gone AWOL. He said to me that it went along the lines that 'Nobody loved me', not even he loved her any more."
Mrs Hahn said Mr Campbell told her he had not replied because Danielle would have been at school with her phone switched off.
On Wednesday, legal restrictions banning the publication of a photograph of Mr Campbell were lifted at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Prosecutors say Mr Campbell was obsessed with Danielle and had a fixation with teenage girls.
Witnesses have told the court that they saw Danielle getting into a blue van and arguing with the driver before she vanished on 18 June.
Her body has never been found.
The trial, which began at the start of this month, is expected to end in December.