STATE & NATION
September 13, 2014
SATURDAY
NWHerald.com
Cops: Pathologists’ findings led to Ill. murder charge By JIM SUHR The Associated Press ST. LOUIS – Murder charges against a former Illinois prosecutor and Big Ten football standout in his wife’s death eight years ago are rooted in pathologists’ new findings that her body’s condition at the scene showed she died of foul play and not flu-like symptoms, authorities told The Associated Press. Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley said the case took a dramatic turn late last year when a recently promoted detective dusted off the file and sought opinions from two outside pathologists, each of whom concluded that 38-year-old Cory Lovelace died of foul play on Valentine’s Day 2006. Curtis Lovelace, 45, was indicted last month on a first-degree murder charge in Adams County Circuit Court, where he prosecuted hundreds of cases as an assistant state’s attorney. He appeared in court Friday, shackled and in striped jail clothes, for a scheduled arraignment and told a judge he needed more time to find funds to hire an attorney. The arraignment
was pushed back to Oct. 8. The former Quincy school board member, who since Cory Lovelace’s death has married twice more, remained jailed in lieu of $5 million bond. Cory Lovelace’s death in the family’s home in western Illinois’ Quincy along the Mississippi River had remained an open case, given that an autopsy and coroner’s jury at the time failed to pinpoint what killed of the mother of four. Ed Parkinson, the case’s special prosecutor, said Curtis Lovelace had told authorities after his wife’s death that “she had been ill for a few days.” Copley said the detective perused Cory Lovelace’s file after he “heard other people talking about concerns about the case,” adding that the man “identified some inconsistencies between what was found at the scene and what was being said.” Copley wouldn’t elaborate. “He had his concerns and asked if he could take a fresh look. I said, ‘Sure,’” Copley said. Because Cory Lovelace had been cremated, investigators had no remains to exhume and re-examine. But the two
pathologists the fledgling detective asked to separately weigh in ruled her death a homicide by suffocation after reviewing the autopsy report and, more specifically, keying on photographs of her body at the scene, Parkinson told the AP on Friday. “The condition of the body should have told [initial investigators] that something was amiss,” Parkinson added without elaborating, saying additional details would come out in court. Propelled by the pathologists’ conclusions, Copley said, investigators spent months quietly re-interviewing “almost everyone involved in the case with the exception of Mr. Lovelace,” secured an indictment against him and arrested him the same day, as he emerged from his law office to go to lunch. While playing for the Illini between 1986 and 1990, Lovelace was chosen team captain and was an all-Big Ten first team selection at center. A member of the Illinois bar for 20 years, Lovelace is a captain in the Illinois National Guard Judge Advocate Corps.
Charges filed in dead babies case By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and DENISE LAVOIE The Associated Press
ROUNDUP News from across the state
1
Western Illinois sheriff resigns over cyberstalking charge
CHICAGO – A western Illinois sheriff accused of cyberstalking and threatening a woman he met at a gym resigned from office Thursday and agreed to withdraw from the November ballot, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. Rock Island County Sheriff Jeffrey Boyd, 48, entered an Alford plea to charges of attempted misconduct, and will forfeit the pension he earned during his nearly four years as sheriff, Madigan’s office said. An Alford plea does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors likely can prove the charges.
Erika Murray is escorted into the courtroom by a court officer for her arraignment Friday at Uxbridge District Court in Uxbridge, Mass. who also lived there. A search by crews in hazmat suits for any more remains continued at the house even as not-guilty pleas were entered for Murray in nearby Uxbridge. A court-appointed defender suggested she was mentally ill. “You want answers in circumstances like this. ... Mental illness doesn’t always provide those kinds of answers,” said Keith Halpern, Murray’s
Boyd was accused of using his position as sheriff to intimidate and threaten a woman he met at a Rock Island gym. He also allegedly pursued the woman, who entered the country illegally from Mexico, via repeated text messages. Prosecutors said the woman asked Boyd to leave her alone, but he used his law enforcement position to continue to intimidate and harass her. Then in June, authorities said, Boyd sent the woman an anonymous, threatening text message.
2
DNA tests ordered in killing of ex-Bear girlfriend
WAUKEGAN – A suburban Chicago judge ordered new evidence tests in the case of a woman serving a life sentence for killing the pregnant girlfriend of former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle in 2007. Lake County Circuit Court
attorney, after the arraignment. He did not elaborate on her condition. In Blackstone, a town of less than 10,000 near the Rhode Island border about 50 miles southeast of Boston, residents fretted that such horrors had gone unnoticed. “I think everyone in town is feeling a little of that today,” said Sarah Martin, 29, who often walked by the home with her own 2-year-old daughter but did not know the family. “When something so tragic and heart-wrenching happens, you look back and say, ‘Maybe there were clues I could have picked up on.’” Neighbors said the shades were always drawn; some had noticed a foul smell. A prosecutor said that soiled diapers were piled 2 feet high and that the remains of several animals also had been found. The children first came to the attention of police two weeks ago when a 10-year-old boy who lived in the house went to a neighbor and asked, “How do you get a baby to stop crying?” said Tim Connolly, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.
Judge Christopher Stride on Thursday signed an order to test bullet shell casings used to kill Rhoni Reuter, 42, of Deerfield, WMAQ-TV reported. Marni Yang of Deerfield was convicted in 2011 in Reuter’s death, which prosecutors alleged was a meticulously planned killing of someone Yang viewed as a rival for the football player’s affection. Jed Stone, Yang’s defense attorney, said he has found a prominent DNA expert to extract a small sample of skin cells from the shell casings. The new test will reveal the true identity of the killer, Stone said. Prosecutors have no objection to Stone’s request, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Ari Fisz. Yang was charged in March 2009, entered a not guilty plea
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Memorial service honors victims
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Mourners release balloons at the end of a memorial service Friday in Amory, Miss. Police said Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, killed his three boys and two girls, wrapped their bodies in separate trash bags and drove around for days across several states with their decomposing bodies before dumping them on a rural hilltop in Alabama.
Criminal, internal investigations underway in Ohio prison escape By ANDREW WELSH HUGGINS and JOHN SEEWER The Associated Press LIMA, Ohio – Criminal and internal investigations were underway Friday to determine how three Ohio inmates including a convicted killer of three students were able to escape from prison during recreation a day earlier. The state prisons agency also said outside experts will review the agency’s procedures and recommend possible improvements. The three prisoners were being held in a protective control unit that had been cited for security issues in a recent report, and the escape came a day after prison officials apparently foiled an escape plan by another inmate from the same unit. The three escaped prisoners, including convicted Chardon High School shooter T.J. Lane, were recaptured by early Friday morning. All three were transferred later Friday to a high-security prison in Youngstown in northeastern Ohio. “They should’ve been watching him more closely,” said Morten Pederson, 42, of Chardon, the community stunned by Lane’s shooting of three high school students in 2012. Pederson has two children in the district. The three inmates scaled a fence to a roof over an entry building at 7:38 p.m., immedi-
the following month, and convicted of first-degree murder two years later.
3
Chicago taxi drivers threatening a slowdown
CHICAGO – Chicago taxi drivers are staging a slowdown to press their demand for a fare hike and the regulation of ridesharing operations in Illinois. Broadcaster WBBM in Chicago reported there were few taxis at Midway Airport on Thursday, and United Taxi Drivers Community Council Fayez Khozindar is wishing “good luck” to people attempting to grab a cab Friday in the city or its airports. Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride said the city hasn’t been notified of any slowdown. She said taxis
AP photo
T.J. Lane listens during court proceedings Feb. 26, 2013, in Geauga County Common Pleas Court in Chardon, Ohio. Ohio police said Thursday that Lane, 19, the convicted killer of three students in a high school cafeteria, escaped from prison. He was recaptured early Friday. ately sounding an alarm, the state said. A prison guard chased and caught one inmate, Lindsey Bruce, immediately. Lane, 19, was caught only about 100 yards from the prison by two state troopers at 1:20 a.m. Friday after a police dog located him, the state said. The third inmate, Clifford Opperud, was caught at 4:20 a.m. after an infrared camera led officers to his hiding area under a boat at a residence and a police dog found him, the state said. One inmate was put in segregation when an escape plan was discovered Wednesday, the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association said
continue to be dispatched at O’Hare and Midway airports. Gov. Pat Quinn in August vetoed legislation that would have regulated services provided by drivers who use personal vehicles to provide transportation to the public. Customers use their smartphones to order rides offered through companies such as Uber X, Lyft and Sidecar. The legislation would have subjected ride-sharing operations in Illinois to the same licensing, insurance and inspection requirements as taxicabs.
4
UPS plane makes safe emergency landing in Rockford
in a statement. That inmate was housed in the same unit as the three who escaped the following evening, and prison officials didn’t take additional steps to secure the unit, the union said. A spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said in an email that the segregated inmate “has nothing to do with the escape.” Lane’s brief taste of freedom frightened residents in Chardon, the community nearly 200 miles to the east where Lane fatally shot three students and wounded two others and then further angered people with defiant behavior in court.
plane landed safely Wednesday night at a Rockford airport after the pilot alerted that the aircraft lost all hydraulics, Chicago-Rockford International Airport fire chief Jim Klinefelter said. The airport’s highest level of emergency was activated, triggering emergency crews from Rockford and nine surround departments, Klinefelter told the Rockford Register Star. There were four crew members aboard the Airbus A300. It landed without incident at about 11 p.m. after the pilot declared the emergency and asked for priority landing at about 9:45 p.m., authorities said.
– Wire reports
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ILLINOIS
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BLACKSTONE, Mass. – A woman who lived in a squalid, vermin-infested home where the bodies of three infants were found was charged Friday with covering up the deaths, while neighbors said they wish they had acted themselves to call attention to the house with the foul smell and the shades that were always drawn. Erika Murray, 31, was arraigned on charges including fetal death concealment, witness intimidation and permitting substantial injury to a child. But basic facts remain a mystery or aren’t being explained by authorities. Among them: why it took authorities so long to search the home even after removing four other children from it last month; whether the babies were newborns or fetuses; whether the woman was the mother of all the children; the nature of a 2007 report of abuse or neglect at the house that was not deemed a problem; and the identity of a man
Northwest Herald Section B • Page 2