IL - Cory Lovelace, 38, found dead in her Quincy home, 14 Feb 2006

[OkieGranny]

http://www.bnd.com/2014/08/28/3371841_former-adams-county-prosecutor.html?&rh=1

Curtis D. Lovelace, an All-Big Ten center at Illinois who later became an Adams County assistant state's attorney, was formerly charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the death of his wife.

Lovelace, a private practice lawyer in Quincy, is accused of suffocating Cory D. Lovelace, 38, on Feb. 14, 2006. A month later, a coroner's jury ruled the cause of death undetermined. An autopsy reached the same conclusion.

http://www.wgem.com/story/26386005/2014/08/27/quincy-man-accused-of-murder-wife-in-2006

"The coroner's inquest in 2006 ruled the cause of death undetermined," Copley said. "I can tell you that we've had new autopsy results given to us that labeled this as a homicide."

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/ar...ty-prosecutor-charged-with-murder-5719354.php

Details of Cory Lovelace's death weren't revealed during Thursday's hearing. Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley said the investigation into her death was reopened in December 2013 after the department received new information.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/09/12/former-adams-county-prosecutor-indicted-for-wifes-murder/

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...

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.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20140927/NEWS/140929519/10287/NEWS

A former Illinois prosecutor recently charged with murder in the 2006 death of his first wife told investigators he never summoned emergency responders or tried to resuscitate her after he found her dead in bed when he returned from taking three of their children to school, transcripts of the coroner’s inquest at the time show.

The recount of a detective’s testimony during the proceedings was provided to The Associated Press and other media outlets through an open-records request, offering the first glimpse of Curtis Lovelace’s version of Cory Lovelace’s demise in the Mississippi River city of Quincy in Adams County...

Ed Parkinson, the special prosecutor now assigned to the case, has said two pathologists enlisted in recent months by a Quincy police detective ruled the death a homicide after reviewing the autopsy report and keying on photographs of her body at the scene. “The condition of the body should have told (initial investigators) that something was amiss,” Parkinson told The Associated Press earlier this month without elaborating.

 

[Spyglass]

I searched and found this case listed as a "resolved cold case." I am confused why this is listed as a resolved case.

Isn't this a case "awaiting trial?"

 

[chicagofa13]

I would like to see Dateline cover this case.

 

[Melinda64]

I am from Quincy and practice law here. Never suspected this! Following right along with the rest of the public!

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/n...delayed-again-for-former-Illinois-6042908.php

The trial for a former Adams County prosecutor charged with killing his first wife has been delayed again.

A circuit judge on Monday delayed 46-year-old Curtis T. Lovelace's trial from March 23 to June 29. Lovelace's attorneys said they needed more time to prepare.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://quincyjournal.com/above-the-fold/2015/04/30/lovelace-trial-date-pushed-back-to-sept-21/

The defense for former Adams County Assistant State's Attorney Curtis Lovelace asked for, and was granted Thursday, a further delay in his 1st Degree murder trial...

The trial will now start on Monday, September 21st at 9:00 A.M. in Adams County Circuit court.

 

[Rayemonde]

December 2015:

The first-degree murder trial of Quincy lawyer Curtis Lovelace will start as scheduled Jan. 25...

Lawyers on both sides told Judge Bob Hardwick they are ready for trial during a five-minute hearing Tuesday afternoon in Adams County Circuit Court. A final pretrial hearing will be held on Jan. 13 in Cass County as the sides will argue two motions made by the defense before Tuesday's hearing. In one of the motions, Lovelace's defense team has asked that Lovelace's second wife, Erica Gomez-Steinkamp, be barred from testifying.

http://www.whig.com/article/20151222/ARTICLE/312229566

 

[*~Aimee~*]

I would like to see Dateline cover this case.

I agree with you. Would love to see this on TV. Esp since he was former states attorney and president of school board. I had not even heard of this case and I am about an hour south. I went to Springfield today and saw this in a People magazine @ a dr office.

I am from Quincy and practice law here. Never suspected this! Following right along with the rest of the public!

Hello Melinda, I bet you were surprised when you first saw this since you practice law there too. Seems like it would be spoken of around courthouse some. I wonder if anyone from public can go watch this trial?

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.pekintimes.com/article/20160125/NEWS/160129608

A star football player at the University of Illinois, Curtis Lovelace returned to his western Illinois hometown with a law degree, later serving as a prosecutor who held lawbreakers accountable and as the local school board president.

The former team captain and two-time All-Big Ten standout now faces his own day in court on a first-degree murder charge in the killing of his first wife, who died on Valentine's Day in 2006. Jury selection began Monday in Quincy...

A special state prosecutor will argue the case, because Curtis Lovelace spent seven years as an assistant state's attorney in Adams County. The trial is expected to continue into the first week of February.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.whig.com/article/20160129/ARTICLE/160129985

During opening statements on Wednesday, special prosecutor Ed Parkinson said that the Lovelace residence at 1869 Kentucky “wasn't a happy place.” Parkinson began to paint the picture of Curtis and Cory Lovelace's home around the time of Cory's Feb. 14, 2006 death...

Herkert said she was surprised that Curtis Lovelace took the couple's three oldest children back to school on Feb. 14, 2006, after he brought them home to tell them about their mother's death. Defense attorney James Elmore asked Herkert if she knew that Lovelace took his kids back to school so they wouldn't have “to be around a bunch of crying adults.”

Parkinson later asked Herkert if Curtis Lovelace would have been one of those “crying adults.”

“Absolutely not,” Herkert said with a raised tone in her voice.

http://www.whig.com/article/20160129/ARTICLE/301299588

The eighth-grader at Quincy Junior High School was out of school to testify in his father's first-degree murder trial. Just 4 years old when his mother, Cory, died on Feb. 14, 2006, Larson Lovelace was asked about what he remembered from that day...

He couldn't wake up his mother that day. "I went to the side of her bed, said her name and I think I poked her," he said... Larson said no one else was in the house, and said he remembers sitting on a set of stairs to wait for his father to come home...

Larson was the final witness to testify in the first week of Curtis Lovelace's trial. Special prosecutor Ed Parkinson said the state is expected to rest its case by Monday afternoon.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.whig.com/article/20160205/ARTICLE/160209985

Judge Bob Hardwick declared a mistrial in Lovelace's first-degree murder trial after a jury told him they were hopelessly deadlocked after 16 hours of deliberations over two days at the Adams County Courthouse.

Hardwick set a new trial for May 31 and remanded Lovelace to the custody of the Adams County Sheriff's Department. He will be transferred to the Hancock County Jail and held on his original $5 million bond.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

This case is being featured on 48 Hours now.....

Thanks for keeping this thread update Grannie.....I've never heard of it before but it's quite interesting.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

This guy is guilty as hell.....IMO. What a creep.

 

[Madeleine74]

I watched the 48 Hours episode (oh how I love that show, btw).

The science doesn't lie; full rigor does take hours, not just 1 or 2. Science trumps memories. She was dead at least 10 hours or so. She was killed.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

ITA Madeleine....I just set a google alert for Cory so I can keep updated on her case. So much bothered me about her death right from the start.....

The positioning of Cory's hands really prove she had been dead for quite a while.....How hubby left Cory's dead body in the house for the 4-year old to discover. Once hubby returns home to find her dead body, he doesn't call 911 immediately, he takes the little guy over to Cory's mom, dumps him off & tells her she's dead! Then he goes back home. it made me so sad to hear that he remarries quickly, to a student of his no less, and moves his daughter out of the house because she doesn't get along with the new wife (who he quickly divorces only to remarry, for a third time, another woman within a few months). He was described as arrogant and I totally agree....I really don't like this guy one bit. Guilty guilty guilty

 

[cricket49]

I just watched the show and believe the reason for a mistrial was because it was tried in the hometown of Quincy. Too many people knew him and it was said over and over he was a pillar in the community. If he had worked at a service station he would have been convicted. They need to move this trail 100 miles to another city where the jury will look at the facts and forensics of the case. When you know the victim, suspect and other family members people are biased.

Edited to add: Her body was found in full rigor which should have made a guilty verdict easy.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.whig.com/article/20160225/ARTICLE/302259843#

A nonprofit group from Springfield, Ill., called Investigating Innocence has taken on Curtis Lovelace's first-degree murder case.

Investigating Innocence provides investigative support to indigent inmates, lawyers and innocence projects throughout the U.S. Bill Clutter, a private investigator who is one of the group's founding members, said the group is trying to find a lawyer who will take on Lovelace's case for free. The group also has set up a fundraising web page to raise money for expert witnesses and other things needed for the retrial slated to start May 31.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.wgem.com/story/31504442/...ure?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_wgem

A new trial date is set for Curtis Lovelace after he appeared in court for a scheduled hearing Friday morning.

The trial is set to begin July 25 at 9 a.m. Judge Bob Hardwick says he expects the trial to last about two weeks.