Curtis
Lovelace’s marriage to his wife Cory was in shambles in the months leading up
to her 2006 death, according to friends and former neighbors who testified
Friday in his murder trial.
Lovelace
stands accused of killing his wife, who was found dead in bed on Valentine’s
Day more than a decade ago. An initial autopsy failed to pinpoint a cause of
death. Now, prosecutors say, Lovelace smothered his wife. The defense says that
the death was a product of heavy drinking and bulimia. A trial last year ended
in a hung jury. Proceedings have been moved to Sangamon County due to extensive
pretrial publicity.
Amy
Herkert, a longtime friend of the Lovelaces, testified that the defendant told
her that his marriage had been in trouble for at least three months.
“He
would tell me that she would lock him out of the house, that they would fight
and he would sleep in the car, it was that kind of thing,” Herkert recalled.
Dave
Schlembach, a neighbor, said that the Lovelaces frequently argued. “We heard
arguing so many times,” he testified. “I can remember one time specifically
being awakened by an argument at their house, and another where I closed my
windows because I didn’t want to hear them yell,” he said.
Schlembach’s
wife Lisa subsequently verified her husband’s account. “The acoustics in our
house were such that I could hear the yelling emanating from my bedroom
window,” she said.
Cathy
Meckes, who also lived in the neighborhood, testified that she was passing by the
Lovelace house when she heard an argument the night before Cory Lovelace was
found dead. “It caused me to pause,” she told the jury. “I slowed down.”
With
the jury present, defense attorney Jon Loevy dismissed Meckes as “silly.”
“She’s
a silly witness in the sense that the state is continually calling silly
witnesses, not that she is a silly person,” Loevy said.
Prosecutors
on Friday also concentrated on Curtis Lovelace’s mannerisms immediately after the
tragedy.
Rodney
Hart, a former reporter for the Quincy
Herald-Whig, recalled offering his condolences to Curtis Lovelace, then an
Adams County assistant state’s attorney, on the day his wife was discovered
dead. “I remember coming up to Curtis and saying, ‘Gee, I just heard about Cory
and we’re all thing about you,”’ Hart said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Yeah,
happy Valentine’s Day to me, huh?”’ Hart testified that he found the comment
odd and said that he would not act like that if his wife had just died.
Erica
Gomez-Steinkamp, Lovelace’s second wife, is expected to testify this week. She
did not testify in the first trial. Married to Lovelace for five years, she has
said that Lovelace called her “Cory” during a drunken stupor and once confessed
to her that he had killed his first wife. She also has alleged that Lovelace
tried to poison her.
Cass
County Circuit Court Judge Robert Hardwick, Jr., who is presiding, has
disallowed testimony about the alleged poisoning, which was not borne out by
testing. Her other allegations, however, are expected to come out on the stand.
Contact Alex Camp at intern@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Mar 2-8, 2017.
