got an answer to the question, who shot and killed jim. and enduring mystery put to rest. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. watching. very bubbly personality. huge smile. it's a child's worst nightmare to lose a mom. every day i wanted answers. every day was told it was unknown. people don't just die. >> she was a loving mother. he was a crime fighting prosecutor. >> you are a pillar of that community. >> i did when i thought was right. >> then one day the law was at his door. >> his wife was dead, in bed >> her eyes were not open, she was pale. >> i just remember crying and not believing it. >> sudden, suspicious, but no

evidence of a crime. >> any signs of a struggle? >> no it was case. closed >> years past. new lives, two new wives. >> he's extremely charming. we just had the most amazing time. >> then, a new detective, dust off the old case. >> what jumped out at? you >> most definitely that her arms were in an unnaturally race position. >> my first thought was we miss somewhere. >> the manner of death will be homicide. >> what really happened in that bedroom. >> i wanted to answer all their questions. i don't remember a whole lot about that day. >> a young mother's death was a mystery. but what is it a murder? >> i want to know what happened. her to my face. don't give me excuses. >> it runs through the heart of america. a long meandering lifeline.

feeding industry, towns and imaginations. the mississippi river, give us tom sawyer and huckleberry finn. samuel clemens, mark twain grew up in missouri. and just across the river in quincy illinois, lived another larger than life character. curtis lovelace, a small town kid who wanted to be a star. and for a time he was. football champion for the university of illinois. >> he's an all american? >> all american. >> this is what kids dream about. he was living that life. >> it was looking like he would go to the nfl. that was kind of a dream of his. >> then he realized, grander ambitions. fighting crime as a prosecutor. serving his country in the national guard. in his community in politics. >> i'm someone who wants meaningful work and it's going to make a difference in the lives of his people. >> but it was what happened in this little house in quincy in

particular that made curtis stand out from all the world to see. >> it was a heated day at the. stand >> right now it's preventing its closing arguments in the. case big dream incentive mighty river can carry you far. or they can drag you wonder. this is the very strange journey, of curtis lovelace. all american, to criminal defendant. >> let's roll back the years to high school. into the woman who would become the focus of so much speculation. cory didrikson. >> cory and i went to high school together. we didn't run in the same crowd, we had some music mutual friends we did not day and i. school >> back then curtis was more focused on football and dating. it was not until he went off to the university of illinois, roughly 200 miles away, and became a star athlete, that he truly noticed a girl from back home for the first time.

it was during college break. the former classmates bumped and each other in quincy, and quickly became an item. cory wasted no time spreading her good news. >> i'll never forget the, day i was playing tennis with a friend of mine, inquiry came over, and met us, and that's when she told us. that kurt was it. >> she went to high school with the new couple >> surprised? >> not really. they seemed a great fit together. and she was very much smitten. >> it wasn't long before corey was also telling her mother, she found the one. >> she comes home, and were sitting there, and she said i've met the man i'm going to marry, whoa. >> and she kept her promise. in 1991, just after college, corey and kurt married. he studied law, she s'more worked a small job to support them. both after graduation they

bought a home in quincy. >> they wanted to be in the neighborhood. they wanted to be close by. it just made it all the better. so we found them a house, and they move back. >> fortunately over the fence. >> three houses up in one over. yes. >> curtis's ambitions drove the young couple. he became a prosecutor in the state attorney's office, and dabbled in school board politics. winning a seat, and serving as president. he even found time to teach a business law classic quincy university. in between the professional milestones, the love laces started a family, first a girl lindsay, then three boys. cory juggle that part of their lives. >> how was she is a mother? she was a young mom >>. fantastic. she was a great. mom nothing she ever did for those kids. >> corey's days were filled with diapers, play dates and tantrums. even then this great mom never forgot how to be a good daughter. in early 2006, her dad was

dying of cancer. >> it was a major event for all of. you >> that was a major event. yes >> for years he fought it. in the last six months of his life, she came every night, at 5:00, and set for a half hour in visited. that was her time with him. >> worn down with the stress of caregiving, raising four kids, it wasn't any wonder why cory herself fell ill. it was the weekend before valentine's day, 2006. >> she was feeling poorly. >> feeling poorly how? well we she ambling from? >> just flu like symptoms. throwing up. we thought she had the flu. >> but on monday, the night before valentine's day, cory still managed to get the kids valentine's cards ready for school the next day. her daughter then 12, remembers cuddling up with her mom watching the winter olympics and snowboarder sean white. >> i remember him saying mom

he's so cute. as a 12-year-old, that was awesome. >> but it wasn't that she was bedridden or anything at that point. >> no, she was feeling sick. even for my mom, that was not common. even if she was sick, she thought she did what was expected of her made dinner, did laundry, because that was her role. >> but when valentine's day dawned, curtis says he urged her to take it easy. >> and we decided that i would cancel my morning class at quincy university, in order to get the kids to school. and so that's right. it >> so dad will be on deck. it will be dads time to get everybody up and running. here >> yes. so i canceled my class. help the kids get ready for school, help out with that. >> he says cory was so ill, he had to help her back to bed before driving the three eldest

kids off to school. with backpacks stuffed with valentine's cards. within minutes, he was back. only the home, still cluttered with clothes and toys, was now filled with something else. silence. quiet enough to break up families heart. coming up. what had happened in that house? >> as i got closer. i immediately knew that something was really wrong. >> so wrong it would tara part of family. and puzzled police for years to come. >> every detective needs to keep in mind that there could be a bigger picture. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues ♪ [band plays] ♪ a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less.

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to achieve - to change the game and inspire the routine of the house was in the team of tomorrow. a tizzy. with cory sick in bed, it had been up to curtis to get the three oldest kids off to school. now he was back. >> when i arrived, when

everything was quiet. i assumed that cory was sleeping, resting. she hadn't slept most of the night. i was just going to leave her alone in order to sleep. >> before looking in on her, he said he looked over his emails in the kitchen. then he headed upstairs. >> and needed to take a shower. as i walked up the steps, i look to the left, the door to her bedroom was as i left open. i could see her laying in bed. and i could see something in the distance. it didn't seem right. so i approached her. >> what made you say that looking back? >> i'm really not sure. as i got closer, i could see that she was pale. she was motionless. and i immediately knew that something was really really wrong. >> did you think she's dead? >> i shook her. i called out her name.

and at that point, i knew that she was dead. >> in that moment he said. his thoughts turn to his four-year-old boy larson. who is still in the house. >> and i needed to get larson out of the house. >> what did you do? >> i grabbed larsson. i believe he was in bed. and i took him immediately over to his grandparents house. >> cory's mom answer the door. she remembers her son last standing there with the young boy, saying something nonsensical to her daughter being dead. >> it had just been a big. morning >> there he is. >> and there he is. he's in the open door, he hands me -- and then he said something about people are coming. i often regretted not putting larson down. >> stunned, she called her son cory's brother peter. >> i got a phone call --

>> chords dead, that campy. >> yeah, she's 38 years. old is no. way the then head of the investigation, arrived to the scene. he marched right upstairs. he was in the bedroom at the corner to examine cory's body. >> he tested the body temperature by placing his hand against her abdomen. i followed suit. >> was the body warm or cold? >> but it is warm to the touch. >> warm. with that till the corner? >> he knew at the time of death, it was narrow, then for the body to still be warm. >> it seemed clear that cory's death had been recent, within the past hour or so. not at all certain why or how the woman died. the detective cannot rule out any possibility. including foul play. >> around the wound itself, and he overturned glasses, or sound of struggle? >> no. >> as i hear you are telling me

that you are seeing a woman who is apparently died in her bed. and not that long before authorities arrive. >> that's right. if i can stress there wasn't a single mark on her, would appear to be a skinny burnish. not a mark. >> and yet there is something about the position of korea's body that did strike him izadi. he thought death and gravity would've caused her arms to drop, instead they were both fixed in mid air, hovering above her chest. >> i was looking for an explanation for that and i even addressed it to curtis lovelace. and asked him if there was a possibility that blankets had been under her arms when he discovered her. >> did he say? >> no. >> he said no, so you said the scene that you saw was the way that it was when he arrived. >> yes. >> the detective was careful to not get hung up on a strange detail of this case. >> every detective needs to

keep in mind that there could be a bigger picture. >> and oh yes, there was. a portrait of a woman, a portrait of a marriage filled with the details painted in a most unflattering light. >> coming up. a peek behind closed doors. >> you are drinking to? much >> i drink too much. >> cory was drinking too? . much >> kaori was drinking too much. >> and a daughter once your mom. >> i just remember crying, and not believing it. when dateline continues. e continues. air wick essential mist transforms fragrance infused with natural essential oils into a mist. with an extra boost of fragrance you can see... smell... and feel. it's air care redefined. air wick essential mist, connect to nature. (amanda) my name is amanda and i smoked while i was pregnant. this is the view i had of my baby in the nicu.

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detective was trying to understand why the 38 year old woman had died suddenly. as he looked for clues inside korea level aces home, filled with the clutter of young family life, jeff noticed one item in particular, a white cup on her bedside. >> i collected an unknown liquid, it smelled faintly of alcohol from the styrofoam cup. the >> detective asked her husband, curtis, what it was. >> did he tell you that you like to have ivanka tonic? >> yes. >> and that is likely what was in at the start? reform >>. yes >> the big 24 glass? >> yes. as curtis told, it it had been constantly in the home. >> there was alcoholism in our family. so, there was an ugly size -- side of that. >> you are drinking too much? >> looking back, yes. i drink too much. >> cory was drinking to? much >> kaori was drinking too much.

it was her ability to take care of things at home. >> he also told the detective that she'd been taking pills, -- false, sometimes out of bed. detectives later found out that she'd been battling -- the pick -- cory had not been -- i know you guys are listening to the words that a subject is listening. how does he phrase it? what were you saying on that score? >> it is very important. and i saw a man who was answering that question. >> like being a face of, shifty? >> not being cooperative, solemn, upset. >> curtis also retraced the family steps that morning. >> i saw his wife around 8:15. took the kids to school. he returned. and he found her deceased. >> with that, detective finish the interview and left. but curtis knew his awful day was about to get worse. not least he had four children

ranging in ages from 4 to 12 to look after. >> how do you tell the children? >> that was ... i think, to this day ... that is the most difficult thing that i have ever had to do. i believe i called the schools, and let them know that i would be on my way. >> lindsey, the only girl, was the eldest of the lovelace kids. >> i remember being at school. i remember getting the call from the office that i was getting picked up. in my mind i thought, maybe my mom is in the hospital. she hadn't been the days prior, maybe she just had to go to hospital. it's fine. >> once inside the principles office, her office broke the news. >> and he told me that my mom had i. and i just remember, then on, my world crashing down. >> did you say what had happened, what was going on? >> i'm sure that i asked what had happened. i just remember ... crying. and not believing it. and so, we left.

we went to my grandma's house. i was like, i want to go back to school. and i went back to school. >> on the day that you lost your mom? >> because that was normal for me. it was a normalcy thing. >> in hindsight, she says, maybe the best thing that she could have done. her favorite teacher had something for her. >> she actually had wolf pups. she had a friend who is carrying for wolf pups. i remember -- i'm pretty sure they had just lost their mom. >> what a jungle of things going on for you that day. >> that was the best thing that i could've done, was hold those wolves. >> by then, news of cory love laces deaf recurrent across town. her business law class, that morning, were the first outside of the family, disrespected something it happened. >> his class was all outside of the classroom, waiting for him to come. >> one of curtis's students, erica, was surprised to learn that professor lovelace's class had been canceled. later, she learned why. >> everyone was just in shock, because she was very young,

38-year-old. she seemed healthy from what everybody understood. so, it was a huge shock. >> that is very sad, your professors wife has died. you did not know her? >> i did not know her. >> i really did not know him at that time either. >> soon, everybody in town was wondering what had caused cory's death. the pathologist who performed the autopsy a day later noted some drama, small abrasions on queries upper lip, and another mark inside, that appear to be a cut. -- did mention that she had fallen in the days before her death. >> those false, as they described, they consider those injuries in the lab? >> i wish that i knew. but yes. the fall could account for an injury. >> the pathologist also noted that cory head was called a fatty liver. often caused by heavy drinking. still, the doctor labeled the cause of death undetermined. >> she doesn't know what killed. >> that was frustrating. she does find the disease of

the liver, but that can be associated with sudden death. >> unusual for a young woman to die of unknown causes. but it does happen. without more to go on the detective had closed the case. >> cory's mother martha, still in shark, could not bring herself to read the autopsy report. >> corey was drinking, we do not deny it. she was billy mick and we tried to talk to curtis about that. told us it was okay, it was all going to be fine. >> then she warned cory. her suffering would only deepen. her husband john was dying. >> he had a visitation for cory, and john sat next to me it was like he was saying goodbye to her friends to. he did not come home after that. >> so, both of those losses, right on top of each other. >> yes. >> within a span of a month,

marty lost a daughter and a husband. she purchased two burial blocks at the local cemetery. even though cory's remains were cremated. that was a choice that curtis says the entire family made together. but the decision to cremate would be one that would haunt this case for years to come. >> coming up, she was different than anyone that i had ever been with before. maybe in some ways, that difference intrigued me. >> curtis moves on. much too fast for some. >> she arrived as a girlfriend. i think it was typically yes. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues it's a simple fact: it even kills the covid-19 virus. science supports these simple facts. there's only one true lysol. lysol. what it takes to protect. (amanda) my name is amanda and i smoked while i was pregnant. this is the view i had of my baby in the nicu. my tip is, speak into the opening so your baby can hear you better.

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the man people looked up in the town, and admired. curtis lovelace, football star, school board president suddenly a widower who needed help. >> people did come forward to getting people to the -- i could also go to work, and pick them up from school. >> it is a lot. >> it's a lot. but we came together as a family, and it what we needed to do. >> the longtime friend, curtis was stoic in the weeks after chloe's death. but one time she noticed the mask slip. it was at a high school movie in later this year. >> they were doing a video

montage. inquiries picture came up. he looked up, and said, that's my wife. and it was just times like that that made me really think that it was a grieving husband. that is why a few months later and other friends were surprised to hear that curtis had met someone new. -- >> she was different than anyone had ever dated before. maybe in some ways that difference intrigued me. >> she was erica. as a former student who showed up to professor liu bases canceled classes on that fateful valentine's day morning. >> he's extremely charming. anything that i need it, he could take care of it, and he would. , erica asked us to alter her appearance to protect your privacy. she began restoring -- she is a 33 year old single woman who bumped into a 37

you'll professor at a nightclub not long after cory's death. fish out of water, she thought. >> i felt really bad for him, so i gave him a number and i told him that there's places that he can go in town that there's people more his age. because i thought that he was a lot older -- >> he did, quite a bit. [laughs] >> not long after, it blossomed into friendship, and then love. they started dating about six months after cory's death. erica and her daughter from a previous relationship eventually moved in with curtis and his four children. it was nice that the children work tucked in with the rest of us, we all fell into place. it is not the way that curtis's daughter lindsey saw it. >> why did you think of her, erica? >> we did not get along. >> from the get-go? >> from the get-go. she arrived as a girlfriend, and that is just how it was. and then i thought it was too quick?

yes. but adults make their own decisions. in fact lindsay was so unhappy with her dad's girlfriend that she picked up and moved in with her grandfather. cory's mom, just a few doors down. after nearly two years of living together curtis and ella were married and she didn't mind how he coached the kids in sports and devoted spare time to his community. eventually they will serve together in the national guard. >> they had an outstanding resume. >> this is the all american void. i love the fact that he was on the school board. that was where my profession was leading. and i loved that he worked with children. he was great. he seemed to be great with the children. >> they even bought a new place in town together and moved from the house where cory had died. there was domestic tranquility at first, but eventually erica said that she saw a change in her husband. >> he detached once in a while, from the whole family, and i was kind of left off to myself.

you just hide in the basement until he found work. >> then resentment exploded, in a lot of confrontation. -- it was a rebound relationship, i realize. and a relationship that i should not have done, not only for me but more importantly for my children. >> in 2013, after five years of marriage curtis filed for divorce. now, you might think that he would have been gun-shy about jumping into love again but not curtis. >> it was just surreal and the lovely. >> this is christine she had known curtis since high school. even took her to their homecoming dance. >> marriage and career separated them for a time. >> it was oddly because i was not prepared for any kind of a relationship. and i was not looking for anything -- >> where were you in your life, christine? you are single? >> yes, i was single. >> after reconnecting on

facebook, the former classmates decided to catch up face to face for the first time in nearly three decades. >> there he is at the door. >> there he is at the door. >> what do you see? >> i see kurt lovelace, my senior high school homecoming date standing there. and then we spent that evening with friends and before we know it everyone else had gone. and we just had the most amazing time. >> i was meeting in many ways the same person who i took to homecoming, just more beautiful, more interesting. and more kind than i had ever remember. >> it just worked. >> more than six months later, on the day after christmas, 2013. curtis was once again standing at the altar. only this time, the new mrs. lovelace seem to have approval from everyone. even 20 year old daughter lindsey, who had packed up at the arrival for her father's -- >> she seemed very genuine. i like that she cared a lot about the boys. >> did you think maybe this could be the restoration of the

family? >> yes. i did. >> after the nine mayors that you saw, christine, seems ok to you? she is certainly making an effort to reach out to you, right? >> yeah. and i felt like our family deserved happiness at that point, after everything we had been through. so i was hoping that it all came out okay. >> and did it go okay. christine kept all of the love laces running like a swiss train schedule. kids off to school, while curtis worked it is known law practice in downtown quincy. christine, meanwhile put on her bakers apron. >> i opened and -- was making 100 times a week. and i was selling out of pies before 8:00 in the morning. >> this was not just a hobby to keep you busy? >> this was a good business. >> yes absolutely. >> what is your go-to pie? >> blueberry. but i make a mean gooseberry, you name, and i could probably do it. >> after years of turmoil, it seemed the love laces were reborn. lindsay was back and the family fold. christine had even adopted

curtis's sons as her own. everything was going well. but darker souls wait for the train wreck, just when things are looking all hunky dory. turned out that that train was hurdling down the track. >> coming up ... a new detective leads to new suspicion. >> what doubted you? >> most definitely, the arms were in an unnatural way. >> and the start of a new investigation. >> in this particular autopsy, there were things listed as suspicious. >> my first thought was, we missed something. >> when dateline continues ... -- tinues ... -- simply add finish jetdry 3in1 to rinse, dry and shine your dishes. solve 3 problems at once with finish jetdry 3in1. itchy? scratchy? family not getting clean? get charmin ultra strong. it just cleans better, so your family can use less. hello clean bottom!

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slip by, and cory lovelace's death slipped further into the past. >> i would sit in the cemetery by myself, for a little while. and chris valentine would say -- i don't to valentine's day. >> cory's has been meanwhile had remarried, voiced, and married again. and all that time nobody really question the why or how of corey's death. but all that changed one day when a man in a windowless room a few blocks off of the mississippi found himself with a spare time on his hands. >> all of our files are on computer. >> it was late 2013, almost

eight years after cory's death. adam gibson, a new lead detective with the quincy police department became idly pulling up old files. i'm looking for anything in particular just reading old cases. corey lovelace popped in my head, i remember the report. >> the name in anything to? you >> yeah. i knew curtis lovelace. he had been at one time one of our assistant state attorneys. >> there wasn't much to read in the file, truth be told. a statement from curtis, the husband, police interviews with three older children, and the pathologist summary of autopsy findings with photos. >> so he knew what had happened in 2006, sort of? >> yeah, i knew she had passed away on valentine's day of 2006. >> but was the medical examiners finder? >> that was undetermined. it was the original autopsy. >> undetermined could mean a lot of things. and this particular autopsy

there were things listed as suspicious, or traumatic findings. >> for instance, the report mentioned that abrasion on corey's face, just under her nose. something the arriving officer had observed that day. the pathologist also noted the cut, which he called a laceration on the inside of kobe's upper lip. the detective kept scrolling, and then saw something that just stopped him cold. and electrifying image. the police photos of the dead wife and mother as she lay in her bed. >> what jumped out at you? >> most definitely that our arms were in an unnaturally race position. >> hands in a natural way? >> they defied gravity. >> not supported by anything? >> no. >> just out there like a statue? >> yes. >> using police photos from the scene, we recreated this graphic representation of korea's bedroom. >> you can see cory's arms frozen and death above her body. >> that final pose had caught detective jeff baird's attention years before. it curiosity, but he did not

assign it any real significance. >> now adam gibson, did. >> we are mortise? >> yes. in my opinion. >> the mechanics of your mortgage go like this. >> upon death, a humans muscles start to stiffen. but to the detective, it looked as though cory's arms and hands were in an advanced state of it. meaning she likely died many hours before this photo was taken. he tucked his sickly wife into bed only an hour before finding her dead. it did not make sense to the officer. detective gibson went straight to his bosses where he pulled out the lovelace file. >> my first thought was, we miss something here. >> robert quickly had been true in charge in 2006 when everybody assume that correa had a natural death. but he says that he never saw the photos of detective it was now holding before him. >> that is why i saw the photos the posture of the arms. >> bolster of the arms. it appears to me as the rigor

mortise headset in. those pictures ... i can't believe that we accepted an undetermined cause of death in a natural death. >> detective gibson agreed, but they had problems. >> very thin, what you're working with, here's some notes from the medical examiner from years before. and a few photos, very few. >> only two slides. they were taken by the pathologist. and passed on. very thin file. police went back to the doctor who do that autopsy, and asked her to review the case. they did not original. findings, the next step might have been avoided with the new autopsy, but had been possible since the families it's been cremated. detective gibson had a suggestion. he wanted to have the autopsy reviewed by someone, else have basically a review of the original autopsy done, can do a

new autopsy because the body had been cremated. >> the chief oked the request to hire a new pathologist tree view old notes. he also had something else in mind to beef up his case. talk to anyone in everyone who had known cory. his first close to her mom he told her he wanted to meet, but not. why >> he said, can we set up a time, maybe tomorrow, or whatever. i said i will scratch what i'm doing this afternoon. you just come now. because i was so nervous about what it was. everything old was about to be new again. new and very unsettling. >> coming up. >> the thing that struck me first was the position of her arms. >> a different medical examiner, reaches a different conclusion. >> the manner of death would be homicide. and, a detective has a question for curtis's daughter. >> tuesday morning, before you went to school, do you remember? >> i don't know.

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move on, after her daughter's sudden death in 2006. but after a phone call in a visit from adam gibson in early 2014, she started to wonder. >> a lot of things i shoved away. really shoved away. and one of them was, really why korea died. >> did you ever suspect there was foul play. >> no. >> friends of both curtis inquiry also started getting calls from the detective. >> beth remembers's message asking her to collier safety. >> so when i called detective gibson, and he said were reopening the case of cory, i was shocked. i was shaking. >> the detective seem to be interested in what you could tell them about the marriage.

>> correct. >> which she admitted was it much. beth admitted cory didn't really talk about her marriage. so the detective did something no one else had done in this case, he started knocking on doors, talking to cory's former neighbors. >> all the neighbors talked about all the constant arguing infighting. >> you are getting a picture that was what was going on in the marriage that was not in focus in 2006. he went a step forward, and went to the university of iowa, to talk to someone who would've been an eyewitness to the marriage. >> it's nice to meet. you amid to tact. if >> lindsey lovelace, cory in curtis's oldest when she was in college when she was summoned to the police departments to talk to detective. >> i was confused. >> the questions that follow did not clear things. up at least not at first. the detective started talking about her late mom. in asking about her parents

marriage >> how was your parents relationship? do you remember? >> they would fight. it was an interesting relationship. there were times that we were, like the perfect family we would do fun family stuff, and then there were times i remember being woken up at night by my parents fighting. >> for the first time someone inside the lovelace family revealed the turmoil before cory's death. but then the detective asked lindsey to describe that tuesday when her mother's body was found. >> tuesday morning, before you went to school. >> the answer seemed to take the air out of his theory of the case. >> she was up and walking around she made breakfast. i don't remember what we had for breakfast. but she made us breakfast. and she was helping us get ready for school because we all had our little valentine's day boxes. >> the young woman was candid about her troubled marriage, but she was more supportive of her father's account. cory had died minutes after seeing her children off to

school. not hours earlier as the detective suspected. if he had been disappointed in lindsey's answer, he did not show it. but he did make a request that caught her off guard. >> if you do talk to your dad, the only thing i ask is you don't discuss the fact that i came and talk to you. >> why did you think was happening? >> i did not. no especially when he said don't tell your father i was here. >> so it is that? mean >> i went back to where i was living. and i just sat there. and i thought what is going on. and then it slowly hit me. >> she realized the detective suspected her father had something to do with her mother's sudden death. even so, she kept her promise, and did not tell her father about the visit. in the meantime, detective gibson was waiting to hear from the assistant medical examiner for the city of st. louis. he hired her to review the autopsy report. >> the thing that struck me first, just looking at the scene photographs was the

position of her arms. she says the photo shows cory's body in full rigor mortise. like the detective, the emmy believe the picture in curtis's story we're out of sync. >> i estimate that the time of death was somewhere 10 to 12 hours prior to her photograph being taken that morning. so somewhere about nine or ten or 11 pm the night before. >> in other words, the night of february 13th, not february 14th is curtis claim. something else bothered. her turner thought the scene appeared altered as those something under quarries arms was removed. >> why were her hands not resting on the surface? and that surface, whatever that object was, that her hands were resting, on why was it not there anymore. >> turner noted the abrasion on her face in the insider upper lip. to her, that suggested something had been pressed

against the woman's mouth. >> and then, seeing the marks around the mouth, and inside the mouth, all suggest, that suffocation occurred. >> suffocation. and abrasion. an accepted timeline that no longer fit. turner was convinced that cory had not died a natural death. she concluded, someone had used an object, like maybe a pillow, to suffocate the woman. left it under her arms, and removed it many hours later. >> the manner of death would be homicide. >> for the detective, corey's death came down to two competing narratives, from two compelling witnesses. one relied on science to's rely on murder one relied on memory to describe an ailing mother just before she passed away. in the, and the detective believed the science. he believed that a crime head indeed committed. but now he had a little problem back at the quincy police department. there were two officers who

conducted very different investigations at the same case. >> detective gibson, you believe this was a homicide. >> i do believe. that >> officer, you believe this was a death of natural carved causes? are you divided on that fundamental issue? >> i am now uncertain. from what i have heard, and been told, under the new investigation. i'm more uncertain than i was in 2006. >> their boss, still backs both men. he says if there's blame to be had in this case, he will take. it >> you hate to admit that mistakes were made i want to say that i take full responsibility. i was chief in 2006, and i had detectives and supervisors working on this case. >> chief did he get a pass cause he was a pillar of the community? he was a big shot? guy >> -- i don't know that he got a pass. i think he may have got a benefit of the doubt. >> on a warm august morning, that benefit would evaporate along with a peaceful feelings of a summer. day christine lovelace had been

a burned up in her new shop baking pies. curtis was meant to stop by with lunch. >> i just knew, that he was going to be there. and i really had a notion that he was going to bring me fried chicken that day. and lunch came, and went. and no kurt? >> and no. kurt >> a few blocks away curtis it stepped out of his law office. he was on his way to the shop. >> as i was walking to my car, there was a gentleman in a suit, waiting for me. >> it was detective gibson. and he was armed with an indictment from the grand jury. he was there to arrest curtis for the murder of corey lovelace. >> and he said what? >> the only thing he said was my wife died in 2006 when did you think that? it's not the reaction i was expecting it all. >> but curtis lovelace never succumbing. >> he taught me to put my hands behind my back, and put me in handcuffs,.

>> what was going? on >> i didn't. no i remember hearing. murder and use the word wife. i was not aware, that there was an investigation. >> you are totally blindsided? >> i was totally blindsided. >> blindsided, because no one had questions cory's death before. even the police concluded she died of natural causes. back at the pie shop, and increasingly anxious christine got a phone call. with someone from a local tv station. >> he said, i'm holding a piece of paper in my hand, it's an indictment for the first degree murder for corey lovelace. and i immediately said, what's? corey was not murdered. >> give me a. word that day in your life. >> horrifying. >> i was put in an interrogation room immediately. >> curtis lovelace at a crucial choice to make. either talk to the tech detective and try to clear it operate that in their, or with the attorney lawyer? up >> coming up.

>> i don't remember anything significant about the night before. >> you said the two of you went to bed together. >> yes. i believe we did. >> i have a problem with not remembering all of these things. >> when dateline continues. things >> when dateline continues things >> when dateline continues land o' frost premium... so much goodness it'll make you cry! very nice, very nice. land o'frost premium. fresh look. same great taste. this is a cold call! this is annie. land o'frost premium. will you turn to cold washing in tide. unsubscribe. wait, wait, wait this helps the environment. it saves you money. i will take that money. for the environment.

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a lovelace. >> i just remember crying and not believe. it >> please reopen the case. >> we miss something here. >> her husband curtis, who had remarried twice, is the prime suspect. returning now to, mystery on the mississippi. >> curtis lovelace had seen plenty of interrogation videos on his career as a former prosecutor. in the summer of 2014, for the first time in his life, he was the one in the hot seat. >> you have a rate to remain silent. to understand.

that >> anything you say can and will be used against doing a court of law. and you are a lawyer. and you know the number one rule is you do not talk to the police, without a lawyer present. >> but i talk. i wanted to answer their questions. i thought they wanted to know the truth. >> she indicated she didn't feel. well >> on that valentines morning, curtis said that cory was still nursing that bad cold or flu. >> i walked back upstairs, with her. she climbed into bed. >> he described leaving the house, then coming home only to find his way dead in their bedroom. >> she was cold and stuff i just recall her hands being out or something like that. >> and yet many other details surrounding his wife's death, seemed to elude curtis. >> i don't remember anything significant about the night before.

>> you said the two of you went to bed together? >> yes. i believe we did. it's been a long time. i guess it's possible that i would've slipped on the couch or something. >> he said you took the kids to school? >> again, i believe i did. it's been so long. >> ironically, he didn't remember a whole lot about that day. >> he could even remembered if he took the kids to school that. day >> right. i just would've thought that finding your wife dead in bed would have left more of an impression on you. >> to the detective, curtis was trying to look helpful, without really being so. gibson cut to the chase. >> did you smother cory with a pillow? >>, no i did not. >> did you inquiry have a bed argument, kurt? did it get out of hand? did you snap and then put a pillow over her mouth and suffocate her. >> no. no. i, there, there were no bad

arguments the night before. it's exactly what i've told detective baird, in 2006, and what i told detective gibson in 2014, and what i'm telling you now. that is what happened. she was sick, and i came home, and i found her in bed and she was dead. >> it was clear the detective strategy hadn't yielded what he wanted, a confession. >> i have a problem with you not remembering all of these things. >> the lawyer's goal of talking is way out of trouble had not exactly worked either. even after he agreed, curtis says, to take a lie detector test in a short time, he was swapping out his buttoned down shirt and leather loafers for a very different courthouse look jailhouse black and white stripes >> coming up >> so you went into your mom's room? and she was in? ben >> r. his kids the key to his freedom? >> they saw their mother alive

that day. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues s at lunch? i do. well turns out you were right. they're actually a quality insurance company. that's what i've been telling you. -can we sit with you? -(sips) ahhh. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. (tonya) smoking damaged my heart. now i have a battery-operated heart pump. my tip is, stop thinking this can only happen when you get old. my heart failure happened at 38. [announcer] you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit now. curtis lovelace could not

believe how is world and falling apart. one minute he was quincy's fair haired boy, the next use being interrogated by police for killing his first wife. >> i was on she was on my side of the bed when i found her dead. >> meanwhile christine was in a panic for to ease an's, her husband was just arrested and now she was looking for her sons. >> i found out that all three boys were at the police station. >> the boys were down? there >> they have been taken out of school and held in isolation earlier that day. >> they were just 17, 15 and 12 years old at the time. all alone at the police said quarters. once christine found out they were there, she rushed to the station. >> or the kids? told what did they think was

going? and >> they actually thought something happened to. may i walk into the room they got up and they were all very scared and they hugged me and i told them everything would be okay we will figure this out. >> detective gibson had rounded up the boys because he was looking for more information. >> i'm looking into the death of your mom from 2006, okay? >> yes. >> the detective started to question them about the last days of their mother's life. >> so you went into your mom's room? >> yeah. >> and she was in. but >> yes we wake up every morning and i would go in her room and watch our. show >> dino a time that? was >> no. >> larson the youngest son was not interviewed in police back in 2006, because he was only four years old. now he was telling detective gibson he wasn't sure if his mother was alive was more -- he said he only remembered getting out of bed and going to his mom's room.

but she did not answer. him >> i just remember going into the room and then she would wake up. i think it was valentine's day. >> yeah, dad was gone. came back and i told him. that she was not waking up. >> but the two older boys said they did remember seeing your mom that morning. this is lincoln, the middle. boy >> i just remember like waking up, i remember her not feeling good and i was sitting on the stairs and then i went to school i think i remember saying i love you before we left. but that's pretty much it. >> logan, the eldest, son said he knew for certain that his mom was alive on february 14th. >> she was sitting on the steps, like, ready for us to leave the. house >> christine was still trying to find her husband. she did not know he had been transferred to a different jail. eventually, he called. >> he told me everything would

be okay and that we were going to have to, to fight some things. >> christine resurrect. her husband was in jail and she was dumbfounded as to why the police had taken the boys out of school, and then interviewed them without parental permission. she felt better about this though, the two oldest boys back their dead story, they had seen their mom cory, alive on valentine's day morning. just like curtis. >> they saw their mother alive that. >> that's the gist of their story, yes, i saw her alive that morning. and then dad took us to school. >>. it's valentine's day. >> so therefore she could've been dead upstairs, because we saw her. life >> right. >> the boy's sister lindsey also told police to separate times, her mom was alive that morning, had senior off to school on valentine's day. >> she was standing in the front hall like marching us out the door like she always did. >> and the day of her father's arrest, lindsey was away at college when she had an emotional talk with her

brothers. >> i talked to him on the phone the day that he got arrested, and they passed the phone around, and they were sobbing because they were scared. >> hold on. hold on. they asked me to come home. and that was the last thing i ever said to them, like ever talk to. them >> that's one another tragedy unfolded within the lovely's family, around the time of curtis's arrest his relationship with his daughter once again deteriorated. this family doesn't want to get in the details, but soon lindsay found herself cut off from her brothers to. >> i have been shut, out completely shut. out >> will you knew the charge against your father, in the theory of the crime. that he had put a pillow over your mother's nose and smothered her. that's a stark image to deal with. >> it's something i did not ponder, and i chose not to ponder. >> though a jury would soon be pondering curtis's guilt or innocence. in august 2014, the 45-year-old

former assistant states attorney, found himself standing in a courtroom. this time as a defendant at his own arraignment. >> having to appear in a courtroom that i served as a prosecutor, and dressed and stripes and having my hands and feet shackled. those were some really low times. >> mary just eight months, waif number three's commitment for better or for worse, was immediately put to the test. >> my husband, who is kind in carrying and compassionate, is charged with something so heinous that it makes no sense. >> if convicted, curtis lovelace could spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of his, wife cory. as if that weren't enough stress, his daughter lindsey, was about to drop a bombshell. >> coming up. a daughters difficult decision.

>> i don't know what's in lindsey's head and in her heart. one day she was happy and everything changed. >> and a mother recounts which she says was curtis's bizarre behavior the day her daughter died. >> i opened the door any hands me. larson >> and says. by the way quarries dead. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance?

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hometown hero. now his face was plastered on the front pages of quincy's newspaper, as an accused murderer. >> we're relying on scientific. >> the media, including nbc's quincy affiliate were all over the story. covering nearly every moment of his fall from. grace >> he's accused of killing his first. wife >> the former prosecutor would himself be prosecuted by ed parkinson. >> you can't get around rigor mortise, in my opinion, and make sense of this case. in the timeline does not make sense with curtis lovelace. >> in january 2016, nearly a decade after kori lovelace's death, curtis arrived for the first day of his trial. he faced 20 to 60 years in prison upon conviction for first degree murder. he pleaded not guilty. cameras were not allowed in the courtroom. >> it's clear to me, it did not matter what i did. as far as the prosecution was concerned, their only concern was that they needed to create a crime, and they needed for me

to look bad in order to do that. >> curtis did not necessarily need prosecutors help to look bad. some of his own actions the day curry died were at the very least unusual. including never calling 9-1-1. he called who? >> he called his. boss >> his wife is dead in the? bed >> yes. >> he calls his boss. >> yeah and he said my wife is dead. so his boss said would you like me to call the onions? people yes, would you do that? >> cory's mom, who live just a few houses away, testified that curtis broke the news of her daughter's death, in which she thought was the most callous way. there was a knock on her door and curtis was standing there with four-year-old larsson. >> i opened the door and he hands me. larson >> and says? >> oh, and by the way, cory is dead. and. leaves >> marty, i have to say that is very strange. take your grandson and by the way your daughter is dead. >> he was a motionless.

let's put it that way. people who saw him that day, claimed that he was without emotion. >> curtis also new cpr, yet he never tried to revive his way. and that day, why did you not do cpr? >> i don't know. i don't know why i didn't do cpr. i don't know why i didn't call 9-1-1. in looking back, i saw my wife, corey, dead and i didn't know how to react. >> prosecutor parkinson, next one after the first police investigation pushing hard against detective baird, who handled the case. he questioned of baird cave curtis who is then an assistant states attorney, preferential treatment. >> he was a prosecutor. they were the police. he gave him a story that he, how it happened, they bought into it. after all, he's one of us. >> so maybe tougher questions did not get asked? >> i think. so >> neighbors testified the

lovelace household with sometimes a stormy one. and that, parkinson suggested to jurors, is the backdrop of corey's death. >> they fought all the time. it was a rocky marriage with lots of arguments going both ways. and it got of control. and maybe the evidence indicates that placing a pillow over ones face to make them stop yelling at me. maybe in her weakened state, if she was, had flu like symptoms, maybe it went too far. >> the states theory remember, is the force of the pillow cause that cut and abrasion on the outside of corey's lip. the prosecutor implied that the pillow is placed under her arms, after she died. and later removed. >> if you leave it there through the night, and while rig mortise is setting in, and then if a person is thinking, oh my god, what did i do? and oh there is that pillow, i'm gonna get rid of that pillow, then the arms are already up.

>> anything that's what happened? yes. >> but then came perhaps the most anticipated testimony for the prosecution. lindsay, curtis's own daughter took the stand. two times over a span of a year, she told police her mother was alive that morning. >> she said she had felt. better >> but on the stand, with her dad's life on the line, she changed her story, telling jurors she was no longer sure her mom was alive that day. >> i don't remember any of. it >> it doesn't stick in your? memory >> nope. >> and yet detective baird notes, you do telling the story about seeing your mother, in the videotaped interview with detective gives, and you seem quite clear about that morning. and yes, you saw her and went off to school. what happened in the interim between your statement and going into, trial on the stand, and then stemming back from all that? >> it was the fact that no one had honestly asked me, sincerely, will head happened that day. and i never taken time to actually think about. it >> well, detective gifts and, it a couple years before when he took her statement. >> but it, again, i did know i

was asking me. i didn't know what was going on and i gave the story now is gave. so when i had to sit there and think about, i had to be honest with myself and it wasn't the answer i wanted. i wish i could say, i really do wish i could say, yes i remember her, or no i know i didn't see her. >> but you cannot say? that >> but i cannot say. that >> this is not you getting back at your dad, who you're very sideways at this. point >> no because it hurts my brothers to. for me not to honestly say i saw her. but i'm going to say what i can remember, which is nothing. it's a black hole. it's a traumatizing event. and when kids go through traumatizing events, they block things. out and losing my mother was the worst day of my life. >> how are we to understand what's going on with lindsey, christine, because she is told the story that she, like her brothers, remember seeing your mom alive but then she backs away from. it and says i think, i can't remember really. >> i don't know what's in lindsey's head and in her

heart. one day she was happy then everything changed. >> the prosecution still had to explain why the two oldest boys were adamant their mother was alive that morning. parkinson told jurors there was a two-day gap between korea's death in the first police interviews with the kids. ample time he suggested for the boys to be influenced by their dad. >> i think the children were confused as to which. day after. all >> how about? coach do you think he told of his story? >> he had custody of the children from the moment of her discovery until thursday morning. so from tuesday to thursday, i don't know what he said. >> dr. jane turner, the pathologist detective gibson hired to review the case, took the stand instead sciences where the truth lies. she concluded the most reasonable explanation for quarries arms appearing to levitate, is that cory was dead up to 12 hours before police arrived on the scene. >> i view this material, and reviewed it with the i am a

scientist and what we know about the development of rigor mortise. >> would a jury belief? science, or the words from two of corey's own sons? cory's brother, a dentist, found himself struggling over the conflicting facts. >> science is my living, you know. it's, i have to believe in, that but i also have to believe in the family at the same time. so i'm completely. torn >> i've never seen a more difficult case, more closely. >> there seems to be no middle. ground there is none. >> parkinson urged the jury to focus on the science in one image. cory in her bed, her body in rio mortise. he said it proves she died hours before it is claimed. it proved he was lying. it proved he argued that curtis killed her. coming up, the defense gets in turn and christine is feeling optimistic. >> i knew in my heart he was coming. home >> until. christine came in and they explain to her what was about

to happen. >> when dateline continues. to happen. >> when dateline continues to happen. >> when dateline continues it's a simple fact: it even kills the covid-19 virus. science supports these simple facts. there's only one true lysol. lysol. what it takes to protect. you know how some carriers give you so little for your old or busted phone, you just end up living with it? i don't think so. verizon lets you trade in your broken phone for a shiny new one. you break it... we upgrade it. you dunk it? crash it? yikes. doggy bone-it? ha-ha! slam it, wham it, strawberry jamit? we upgrade it! every customer. current, new or business. up to $800 for the 5g phone you want. because everyone deserves better. put my phone in the washer... and the dryer.

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message for jurors. kurdish not be on trial. that's because there is no crime, and this was not murder. instead the state's case was built on faulty science. >> i've stated repeatedly, in this matter, that there is no physical evidence to prove, that he murdered his wife. >> veteran pathologist dr. george nichols, created the office of medical examiner for the state of kentucky back in the 19 seventies. now, as a defense expert, he told jurors rigor mortise is not an accurate indicator of time of death. and he added, where is the evidence that cory fought for her life? there were no signs of struggle, and only the cut and abrasion on her lip. >> you will fight until you no longer canned. the thought that somehow you could suffocate someone with a

pillow, and there would be only one dental mark, is ludicrous. >> detective baird testified that when cory -- stomach area was still warm. how is that possible the defense asked? if she had died 12 hours earlier? >> if the body is warm to the touch, my common sense tells me, not science, that this is someone recently deceased. >> absolutely. . is there an error in that assumption? >> no. >> as far as the prosecution's contention that chorus killed korea after a heated argument, the couple's oldest son testified he did not hear anything like that the night before. and he should know, because his room was right next to his parents. it was even connected by an extra door, that was usually left slightly opened. >> she was also sick, and i was like, i'll stay home with you. and she win let me stay home. >> the two older boys, unlike their sister, stuck to their story they told police. >> did she ever get out of? ed >> yes i think she did.

>> if there is believed, them it blew apart the prosecutions timeline, that cory was murdered the night before. >> they said the same thing that they had told baird in 2016 and detective gibson in 2014. >> and the defense side its sights on detective gibson. they claimed in 2013, he was an overeager, newly promoted detective, primarily assigned to work crimes against seniors. this was his first murder case. >> he transferred foreign canine officer to elder service officer and around the same time he went to a one week or some being a lead detective in a homicide case. and he embarked on this investigation that led to my indictment. >> finally, the defenses medical experts concluded, there was only one plausible explanation for cory's death. she had a history of drinking and falling and that caused the abrasion and cut. the bottom line, she was an alcoholic and billy mick suffering from liver disease,

someone who unfortunately died of natural causes. >> she's not a normal 38 year old woman. she has a significant disease of a major oregon, that is associated with sudden death and liver failure. >> in the, and curtis decided not to take the stand. ten women into men would decide love laces faith. the deliberations went on for two full days. then, christine got the call to come back to the courthouse. >> and i knew in my heart that he was coming home. >> that was it? you are going to prevail. >> yes he's coming. home >> when she arrived, ballast letter to a small a library. >> christine came in, and they explained to her for the first time what was about to happen, that the judge would declare a mistrial. >> kurt was sitting across, he said, i'm not going to be able to come home tonight, and i lost all my air.

it was terrible. >> the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. the vote six guilty, six. not curtis would face another trial. since he could not make bail. he would remain in jail. unless. >> a deal? a plea deal? >> they had offered a second degree murder plea, but i knew it was a decision not only that i had to make, but we had to make is a family. and i didn't know whether i could put them through another year of what's we had gone through. >> that's when one of criticism lawyers turn to christine. >> he said, this can all and right now if kurt agrees to

take the deal. he said, it would keep him from dying in prison. >> but he'd have to admit's culpability, responsibility in court's death. that's the condition? right >> correct, and that he wouldn't have to spend probably any more than 13 years in prison. >> the two said no thanks to the states offer and geared up for a second trial. but that forced them to face another diarrhea lady, they were totally broke, unable to afford another lawyer. >> what are we going to do? i mean at that point, there didn't appear to be any other option. >> this could be a moment for christine to say, i'm out of here. i didn't sign on to be some to my white knight for this guy stand by her. man i'm. gone >> yeah, and who could blame her if that's where she had done? but that's not who she is. >> it looked as though curtis would have to use a public defender. but christine would not accept that option. she worked her connections inventively ended up in

chicago. >> she came to our office and told us her story and i remember finding it compelling in certainly worth exploring further. >> this man is not a criminal lawyer. he's a civil rights attorney by practice, who also does pro bono work with the exoneration project. it's, same overturn wrongful convictions. but curtis had not been convicted, at least not yet. still, he and co-counsel decided to take the case. their services would be free. >> the main concern that i had in this case from the onset, was the lack of evidence. this did not feel like a murder case from the beginning. >> with a new defense team in place, christine got working on her next goal, making bail to get her husband out of jail. friends eventually put up the cash. almost two years after his arrest, curtis was released to have wife and sons. >> they greeted me at the jail,

and i came home to a dog that i never met, and for the first time, got to be back in my house and back in my home. >> but it wouldn't be home sweet home for. long well curtis and mrs. lovelace number three waited for the next trial of alleged murder of mrs. lovelace number one, the judge ruled that mrs. lovelace number two, could testify against her former husband. and what a story she had to tell. coming up, erica, out of disguise and on the stand. >> he ripped my shirt. and then he let me go, and he tried to grammy again and i kept trying to fight him off. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first time gain flings user.

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celebrity. at least so infamous according to his new defense team, that he couldn't get a fair trial in his hometown. a judge agreed. so trial number two is moved from quincy to springfield illinois. >> all. rise >> about two hours away. >> the defense is going to come up here and try to portray the defendant as a pillar of the community. that's a facade. >> david robinson would join ed parkinson for the prosecution. this time cameras were allowed in the courtroom, and the trier started in march 2017. >> our houses were 15 feet apart from each other. >> as in the first trial, neighbors testified they often heard arguing from the lovelace home. this woman live next door in so she heard shouting almost every day. >> essentially for the entire time we lived there, so six years. >> as i walked by the house, i heard an argument, a loud

argument. >> another neighbor testified she heard cory incurred is really going at it on this specific date, the night before valentine's day 2006. she happened to be out first. roll >> it actually, it did cause me to pause, i guess i was listening to see if someone was in distress. >> the prosecution's theory this go around, and how cory died, remain the same. after a heated argument the night before valentine's day, curtis suffocated his wife with a pillow in a fit of rage. he then waited up to 12 hours before police were called. >> korean embassy. please >> and once again science would play a leading role in the prosecution's case. prosecutors had a new witness, a star forensic up spur. >> i have also testified before the house of representatives. >> a 64 year career, dr. warner spits has consulted on the jfk and martin luther king in assassinations as well as other high profile cases including those of phil spector in casey

anthony. >> the appearance of the injury leaves no doubt that this is not a healing wound. >> in a darkened courtroom, spits showed photos and talked about the cut inside corey's mouth. curtis had told police is way fifth fallen in the days before she died. an explanation for the injury. but this expert said he saw no signs the cut was an old one. >> there is no evidence of healing. this looks like at the time it was occurred. >> the abrasion on the outside of the lip in the cut inside indicated to spits that, in objects, like a pillow ad been placed on corey's face shortly before she died. >> this is not an accident, this is not a natural death, this is not a suicide, this is a homicide. >> then came testimony the first jury never got to hear, and it was explosive.

for this trial, the judge allowed erica gomez, wife number two, to testify. remember, when we interviewed her she wanted to protect her identity. but now on the witness stand, she could no longer be shielded by a disguise. >> he violently attacked me. >> prosecutors called the ex-wife to the stand to show that curtis had a history of violence. she recounted one incident she says that happened at home during their marriage. >> he had started probably drinking at around 9 am and had been arguing with the kids. he came rushing it may and tried to grab me. trying to hurt me. he grabbed my shirt and he yanks it up really hard, hard enough to injure my knee. he writ my shirt and then he let me go he tried to grammy again, and i kept on trying to fight him off. >> then erica told the jury another shocking story. she said curtis and been drinking at a party, and later that night, he blurted out

something she found disturbing. >> he's rarely honest except when he's drinking, and he was upset about something and i asked him when he was upset about and he stated something about that she was riding underneath me, and then he said, oh the black cat. >> strange that story sounded, the prosecutor took it to mean this. curtis was not talking about a cap, but about quarries last minutes of life, as she struggled well curtis smothered her. >> erica had a story to tell there's one particular quote that came out, and he says i could hear her writing beneath. me >> that was evidence, she. gave >> it it sounds as though he's killing his way for that. moment >> that's what it we thought it sounded, lake and she testified that under oath on the stand. i could feel her writing beneath me and that's pretty much what would have happened if suffocation was occurring. >> the prosecution believed

it's evidence against curtis was overwhelming. not so fast said the defense. that's because it had some things up its sleeve. a new piece of last-minute evidence in wooden interesting nugget they had found. >> coming up. tough questions for erica. >> someone made that. up someone put those words in there. my signature should be. there anybody can redo. this >> and bombshell testimony. >> did you know, when you decided to pursue this, that the arms had been moved? >> i did not. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues

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go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. we told the judge we weren't like you, my hands are everything to me. but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. and it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. thought surgery was my only option. turns out i was wrong. so when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. learn more at factsonhand.com today. going to talk >> curtis lovelace was putting his life in the hands of jon loevy. his new attorney who took on the defense for free, had more than 20 years of experience, just not in criminal law. was this your first murder

trial? >> i did i did a battery defense criminal case were not a law, school other than that it's my first criminal case. >> christmas taking a huge gamble, on the other, hand he was broke, he did have a lot of options. >> corey died of massive bruises. >> in his opening remarks, they said the state hadn't presented any evidence of murder for a reason. there was no. murder >> all the medical evidence prove she died as a result of an acute sudden onset of alcoholism. >> one of the defenses key goals was to debunk the damaging testimony of his. acts that he had violently attacked her and ripped her shirt. >> once we finish, talking and i take my notes. >> one of the first defense witnesses was major larry hole in of the illinois national guard. i asked her if she wanted to make a sworn statement in writing she said yes she would >> erica had filed a domestic charge, with the guard since curtis at the time was still

active. the major was appointed to look into the charges. he testified as to what erica told him. >> she started backing up. she fell. then he went down to pick her up, and wind he did she city actually struck her in the chin >> you said accidentally. where do you get the word accidentally? >> that was her words. >> erica reported curtis accidentally hit her. the major added she initially did not mention anything about curtis ripping her shirt, after conducting an investigation, he concluded her charges were unfounded. >> there was nothing there to lead to a domestic violence. finding >> armed with that information, the defense confronted erica in cross-examination, with her own statement. but eric is that the document used in court was a fake. >> someone made that. up someone put those words in. they're my signature should be there. my signature is not. there this is typed. this isn't written. anybody can redo this. >> then the defense did something unusual. it asked erica about other accusations she made against curtis, and she had a laundry list of complaints.

>> he knows how to forge paperwork. he used my social security number to try and steal money out of my account. he knows how to get rid of evidence, he stole my daughters bicycle out of the garage. >> at one point, in overwhelmed erica asked for a timeout. >> can i have a break please. >> but eric it was unfolding. she blurted out another allegation in court against her ex. >> he was poisoning me. there was, my hair was falling out. there were white lines of my fingers i was extremely sick. >> erica claimed curtis and tried to poison her and her daughter. she told police he likely put something in their orange juice, but according to the fence, there was a problem with that charge. erica never sought medical care. >> isn't it true, ma'am that you never went to the doctor and said i think i'm being poisoned. >> it would've mattered. >> when erica left the stand, what do you think the jury made her? >> i think they were shocked at the state called.

her the state thought that they could score a point, but when she was subjected to cross-examination she wasn't a credible person. >> there was one under the theme they wanted to drill into this jury. and it concern the lead detective. adam gibson had gone pathologist shopping and as he consulted a series of pathologists before finding one to give him the answer he was looking. for that yes, cory's death was in fact the murder. >> if my opinion is not what he wants, he's going to be going to look for someone. else >> this woman was one of the pathologist he approached. her opinion, detective gibson wanted to call this a homicide. when that was not her conclusion. >> he had a theory and he was looking so hard to substantiate that theory. >> the original pathologist, the original coroner said there was insufficient evidence to find a homicide. he got other opinions who also told him there's nothing unusual here you're barking up the run. trey >> then came even more damaging accusations against detective gibson. the defense said it obtained at

the last minute, import and emails and other documents, it was supposed to have received from the police but never did. potentially exculpatory evidence. >> you understood, didn't you? >> it was not something that i thought, of. no >> one emails from a medical expert. he warned detective gibson, that if the first pathologist left the cause of dust undetermined, that opinion with trump anyone else is. and he implied that would give plenty of reasonable doubt to a jury. >> this email should've been turned. over >> i believe, so yes. >> you can turn it? over >> i did. not >> the prosecution's case appeared to be teetering. >> then came another blow. >> hello mr. baylor. >> william ballard was one of the first emts on the. seen when he arrived, he wanted to please itchy g stickers and cory's body, to check for a heartbeat. so he move your arms >> her arms were down against your chest, i had to pull them up to check for a pulse. i checked for any rigged

mortise into also move her arms up to where i could place my stickers where i'm supposed to place them. >> he moved curry's arms before the police photos were there to take them. that means, they were not in the same position as seen in the photographs. the ones that started this entire in second investigation. the defense seized on that. facts >> did you know when you decided to pursue this investigation that the arms have been moved? >> i did not. >> is this the first time you're hearing, then as you see here today? >> that the arms have been moved prior to the, pictures? yes >> basically your investigation took off because you believe the arms are in a position that was suspicious, right? >> yes. >> come up to be sworn. >> a final surprise. for the first time, the defendant, curtis lovelace took the stand. he insisted he was not a violent. man in never armed second wife erica, and certainly did not kill cory. >> i did love. cory and i know the kids loved

her and it's been difficult. >> the defense wrapped up its questioning with an emotional curtis, telling jurors of the enormous toll the two trials taken on him and his family. >> how long have you on your family been living with? this >> it's been two and a half years. >> whenever you. ready >> and cross-examination, the prosecuting pointed out that a whole bunch of witnesses and facts in this trial would've been wrong for kurt is to be innocent. >> sounds to me like you're saying erica is lying, detective gibson is lying marty is lying and the science is lying. do you agree with that characterization? >> it's up to them to decide who is lying. >> after seven days of testimony, curtis lovelace's trial came to an end.

the jury began deliberations. remember the first panel was deadlocked 6 to 6. >> let me ask you, this heavy reached an unanimous verdict? >> this go around, the jury was out about two hours, before they came back with a decision. >> we the jury find the defendant curtis lovelace, not guilty. >> 11 years after cory's death, two and a half years after curtis's arrest, and to jury trials later, not guilty. to our verdict, murder trial, what does i tell? you >> that tells me they were absolutely convinced kurt was innocent. >> that's not how prosecutor ed parkinson sees. it >> does the system? worker is a guy got away with murder? >> sometimes it works, i think my partner in the prosecution said you're looking at a guy who you think might have gotten away with murder. i feel bad because i think we were. right >> while the legal consequences for curtis or over, the fallout from cory's death

continues to paralyze the extended family. >> i don't know what to believe any more. >> lindsay now a teacher, remains estranged from her father. but she hopes to salvage something, despite all that has happened. a relationship with her brothers. >> i just pray every, day and hope that one day i'll get a call, a text, a message, an email, something from one of them. >> cory's, mom already. >> did you come to an opinion about what role, if any he had inquiries death? >> those are tucked. here i have kept my mouth shut for a long. time and i'm going to keep that. way >> curtis as the state offered increasingly attractive plea deals before the start of the second trial, but he turned them all down. he has since filed 11 count lawsuit against the police in the city of quincy and adams county. the sioux alleges malicious prosecution and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. it also claims curtis's kids

were falsely imprisoned during those police interviews. a federal court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, in charge of the most tunnel distress claim. but allow the case to move forward and all other counts. >> the lovelace family has moved out of quincy, and curtis has opened a new law office in champagne will illinois. he and christine started and exoneration type organization. they say they want to help others wrongfully confused or if convicted. , christine will happen to you guys in this whole thing? >> i don't know i happen to us dennis, we are still figuring that. out these kinds of things happen across our country every day. and now i think we have an obligation to share this story, and to help other people. >> you're goal was to leave that courthouse an innocent man. >> yes, i believe looking in the eyes of the jury, seeing the tiers, from some of them. how quickly they came back, and

they were declaring to me, in the world, that i'm innocent. >> curtis lovelace, a life interrupted. ♪♪ this sunday, chaos, fear and desperation in afghanistan. >> of course, they will kill us. >> as u.s. troops struggle to restore order at kabul's airport. >> they run behind you with an ak-47. boom, boom, boom, boom. >> president biden defended the decision. >> the idea that there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, i don't know how that happens. >> and makes this promise. >> let me be clear. any american who wants to come home, we will get you home. >> but the u.s. is relying on the taliban to allow safe