48 Hours - What Did the Children See?

Episode Date: February 21, 2016

What happens when a former hard-charging prosecutor is prosecuted for his wife's murder in his old courtroom? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Quincy's a small town, 40,000. And sits on the banks of the Mississippi River. People are very proud of their architecture, the work ethic, and also the two high schools in this community. High school sports in this community are a huge thing. Curtis Lovelace was a center on the Quincy High football team. The offensive line, Kurt Lovelace. Went to the University of Illinois and became an All-Big Ten center. Well, we're just underway.

He's an aggressive, very confident, very, you know, arrogant. I mean, he's, you know, a big man on campus. I think we all understand the concept of the play more than the past. And he always kind of had that air about him. And he always kind of had that air about him. He was hired in the Adams County State's Attorney's Office as an assistant state's attorney. He was also on the Quincy School Board, eventually being president of the school board. So you're talking about a guy with some standing in this community.

What do you got to say? Nothing to you, man. No, I figured. A beautiful wife with four kids, everybody thinking he had it all. It was very shocking when his wife died. It started back on Valentine's Day, 2006. She was a beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman, thin, perfect face, face for TV. She had beautiful children, and then this happens.

Curtis took the three oldest children to school. They left the youngest, the four-year-old, there. And every morning he went into Corey's bedroom to watch cartoons with her, went in, and he said that he said her name, but she didn't answer. watched cartoons with her, went in, and he said that he said her name, but she didn't answer. So he went to stand straight at the top of the stairs, sat and waited for his dad to get home.

The 4-year-old told his dad that he couldn't wake his mom up. Curtis went upstairs, found Corey dead. They had an inquest, and it all came back inconclusive, and it was just, they closed the case. So the case was officially closed? Oh, absolutely, yes. Were there any signs of a struggle? In looking at the autopsy photos, it clearly looks like there's irritation

around under her nose and around her mouth. Was there a whispering in the community of, geez, did he do it? Absolutely there was, yeah. There were rumors that he had poisoned her, that somebody was saying, oh, I've known that he had murdered her all along. People knew that their marriage was rocky. It was volatile.

The case sat there for eight years until a detective came in and wanted to give a fresh look at the case. And the theory was that Corey had been suffocated. This was something that was not explored previously. According to the latest pathologist, the scientific evidence said she'd been dead 10 to 12 hours. And according to the police report, the three oldest children saw their mother the morning she died. One said that she was in the kitchen. Another one said they were on the stairs. You either need to believe the pathologists who say that she was suffocated,

or you're going to believe the children that they saw their mother alive that morning. I'm Maureen Maher. Tonight on 48 Hours, what did the children see? Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty, her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice

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It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific Island to the brink of extinction.

Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's Friday night in Quincy, Illinois. And thousands have come out for the home team. Go, ladies! Go, go, go! and thousands have come out for the home team. Go, ladies! Go, Giants!

Go, Giants! The Quincy High School Blue Devils, revered legendary program, one of the winningest programs in high school history. Their halftime score, Quincy, 28. Local journalist Bob Goff swaps his keyboard for a microphone and moonlights as the announcer. If you're a local sports star, people are always wanting to know about you.

And no one was bigger than Blue Devils Hall of Famer Curtis Loveless. In the 1980s, Curtis Loveless made headlines as a star athlete and scholar at Quincy High. Curtis Loveless was a very hardworking kid, smart kid. And the University of Illinois gave Loveless was a very hard-working kid, smart kid. And the University of Illinois gave Loveless, number 54, a scholarship to play football. I mean, Quincy, Illinois doesn't produce a lot of all Big Ten players. He wasn't just any player. Loveless, who studied business

administration, was considered one of the top offensive linemen in the Big Ten, a team captain who led the University of Illinois to the Big Ten championship his senior year. Was two-time All-Big Ten, even got a look in free agent camp in the NFL. Had a bad knee injury, which I'm not sure if he would have made it or not, but that certainly didn't help the situation. But being a smart kid, Curtis Loveless already had other goals in mind. While at school, Curtis started a long-distance relationship with Corey Dedrickson. They met in high school, but only started dating when they both left for college. She was studying communications at the University of Iowa. She just had a perfect smile. Marty

Dedrickson, Corey's mother, spoke to our CBS affiliate, KHQA. And she just smiled at everybody, and she just did stuff. Corey was vibrant, dynamic, a little bit of stubbornness, and she was a pistol, and I loved her for that. I think that was her most endearing quality. Steve Belko, Beth Dobryski, and Brett Schrader grew up with Corey and Curtis in Quincy. Kurt was easygoing. He was a gentleman, fun-loving, intelligent, a gentleman. Did you think they were well-matched? I did. I did. They, well,

they looked great together. They had a lot of similarities, and they seemed to have fun together. It didn't take long before the relationship became serious. It was Thanksgiving and we were sitting up on her bed and just kind of talking about things. And she said, oh, by the way, I've met the man I'm going to marry. In 1991, just one year after graduation, they were married. Steve was Kurt's best man and Beth was Corey's bridesmaid. It was one of the best days, you know, in our lives. Corey was beautiful.

It was a great night. They were very happy. The pictures, you could see on their faces, whether it was cutting the wedding cake or dancing or just, you know, walking around talking to people. It was a magical night. With Corey by his side, Loveless had grand plans. He attended law school and eventually became an assistant state's attorney in the city they both loved, Quincy. What did Corey want to do with her life? What were her dreams? Cory was all about family. She had a great childhood growing up. She wanted the big family,

the happy marriage. That dream came true in 1993 when their first child was born, Lindsey. What are you doing, Lindsey? That's an ugly dog you got there. They would later have three sons, Logan, Logan, say something. He's so

grinning. Lincoln, Hey, Lincoln, smile. And Larson. She was a beautiful person. Lindsay, now 22, told CBS affiliate reporter Jenny Driesler how she and her mother loved listening to the music group ABBA. We would just have girl moments and just dance around and sing and dancing queen and doing all that. I listen to them because it still brings me so much joy from that. Lindsay's dad was a man on the move. In 2005, he opened up his own law firm while still at the state's attorney's office. Years later, he left to concentrate on his own practice. And if his schedule wasn't busy enough, Loveless was elected president of the school board. He became a captain in the Illinois

National Guard and an adjunct professor at Quincy University. He definitely was a pillar of this community, no question about it. But friends say with power came ego. I just felt like he kind of started to talk down to me more and more each time that I saw him. Was he arrogant? He became arrogant more and more, yes. There was a little bit of holier-than-thou. Maybe you're entitled to this living. I think he lost friends over time because of that. The situation at home had also been changing.

While Curtis had spent years focused on his professional life, the long hours away from Corey and the kids were starting to take a toll on their personal life. From what we learned now, and he eventually admitted, they had a volatile relationship. Neighbors around the Loveless House here on Kentucky Street say that in the months leading up to her death, they had heard loud and contentious arguments between Corey and Curtis. By many accounts, both were heavy drinkers. And in this small community, it was known that at times there was a tremendous amount of turmoil in their home. She suffered from bulimia. This is something that her family has admitted.

And the rumors started coming out, known alcoholism. The community knew that, too. There have been multiple people who have even told me. I saw her out drinking here, out drinking there. People knew that she had an alcohol problem, but I don't think that they knew to the extent. Amazingly, Curtis and Corey managed to keep their problems from their closest friends, like Steve,

who years before had moved away from their small town. Was there a point in time where any of you started to see things changing between the two of them? No. No. No. No indication that there was trouble coming up? I never had any. changing between the two of them? No. No. No. No indication that there was trouble coming up?

I never had any. Corey was the great person, very confident. She had everything under control, and she wasn't one to whine or complain. She could handle it. But everything fell apart on Valentine's Day 2006 when Steve got a call from Curtis' father. Corey had died.

He said, listen, I got some bad news. And I just couldn't believe it. I just, no, that doesn't happen. She's my age. She's healthy. This just doesn't come from nowhere. Something's wrong. There is no doubt there is something terribly wrong.

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Happy Valentine's Day. Thanks for joining us. February 14th, 2006. Love was in the crisp winter air of Quincy, Illinois. Small town America decked out for Valentine's Day. Kurt and Corey's house. At 1869 Kentucky, it was a school day and Corey Loveless would usually have her hands full. Corey was a stay-at-home mom. She was always hustling, always, you know, trying to get the kids wrangled around and to where they needed to be. That morning seemed like so many others. According to Curtis Loveless, Corey helped the kids get ready.

They had breakfast and jumped in Dad's car. It was 8.15 a.m. Curtis then took the three oldest children to school. They left the youngest, the four-year-old, there. And little four-year-old Larson went upstairs to see his mom. Went in and he said that he said her name and he thought he poked her, but she didn't answer. So he sat and waited for his dad to get home. Then when he got back, the youngest was still there, said something that he couldn't wake his mom up. By then, it was nine o'clock. Kurt went upstairs to use the restroom and glanced back in the bedroom and saw something wasn't right.

Went in to see Corey, tried to shake her and nothing. That was the moment a normal Valentine's Day morning turned into a mystery. Behavior turned suddenly strange. Smile. Starting with Curtis Loveless. Smile. Starting with Curtis Loveless. Took the youngest to Cory's mother's house, gave the youngest child to Cory's mother and said, Cory's dead, and left. The first call was not to 911. The first call was not to the paramedics. The first call was to his boss, the state's attorney.

Still strikes you as odd. Very much so. Who walks over to their mother-in-law's house, gives them their youngest, and says, your daughter's dead, here's my child, take care of them? The whole scenario was bizarre. Was Curtis Loveless in shock? People do process grief differently, sure. But I think, I just got to say, if it was my wife, I think I'd have called 911 screaming and ranting and trying to perform CPR, which he didn't do. The grim details of the day would be embedded in the minds of those who were there. EMT Cole Miller was among the first on the scene. She was laying in the bed and her arms were drawn up by her chest and I went in

there to check for signs of life and checked her carotid pulse in her neck and then checked her wrist and saw that it was cold and stiff. It was just surreal. When I did find out I was very shocked. just surreal. When I did find out, I was very shocked. What happened in the house that morning, when it happened, and just how long Corey Loveless had been dead, would be questions that would haunt a town and destroy a family. She'd been dead long enough that there was no need to start CPR. It wouldn't do any good. I'm Jeff Baird, B-A-I-R-D, and I'm a Quincy police officer. Quincy detective Jeff Baird, seen here in local news footage, would not speak to 48 Hours. But that day, he did speak with Curtis, who told his version of events. A morning Curtis swears to police and to friends, his wife was still very much alive.

What did he say happened? That Corey had been ill the night before and thrown up and wanted some more Tylenol and he got her some. Apparently she did come down to help. He told me, he said, just remembers her at the bottom of the steps. They walked out and he took the kids to school. According to Curtis, his wife, Corey, was not feeling well that Valentine's Day morning. She came down these stairs and sat down for a while. Detective Baird says that three of the children also told him they saw their mother alive that morning. He interviewed the three oldest children. Those interviews were not recorded

video or audio. He just took notes and then turned in a report in which he talked to the three oldest children individually without their father being there. They all told him that they had seen their mother that morning. Why is the time Corey Loveless died so critical? Ask a man who deals in death for a living, Deputy Coroner James Keller. That Valentine's Day morning, he was there to transport Corey's body. Upon entering the bedroom, I noticed the female lying on the bed on her back with her hands kind of in an upright position. Can you show me? Hands kind of above her, kind of this direction here. Okay. Just kind of a very odd position.

However long Corey Loveless had been dead, to Keller, it certainly appeared that medical rigor mortis had set in, a process he says usually takes close to 12 hours. She was in the state of full rigor. Full rigor. Full rigor. Almost like a mannequin. Correct.

Fully stiff. Fully stiff. Keller was told that Corey saw the kids off to school, handing one a Valentine's class project. And someone on the scene told Keller, Corey Loveless had died in the morning. And your response was? What day? Did it make any sense to you that they were saying it was that morning? It did not. It just didn't seem to add up. Over the years, James Keller has learned one undeniable truth of his trade.

The dead do speak. A body always tells a story the way you find them. What is the story that Corey's body was telling you? That she had passed earlier that prior evening or day. Ten to twelve hours earlier, possibly. Correct. Yes, ma'am. evening or day. Ten to twelve hours earlier, possibly.

Correct. Yes, ma'am. But that medical assessment of time of death was not matching what Curtis and the kids were saying, that Corey had been alive that morning. It was just not what she was telling. It was just not what she was saying. Did you tell

anybody about that afterwards and as the Inquisition went on? There's numerous people. The coroner, Gary Hamilton, everybody had some reservations, maybe concerns about. James Keller was deputy coroner at the time. Second to sitting coroner Gary Hamilton, who was also at the Loveless home. An autopsy, including toxicology tests, was conducted the day after Corey was found dead, and Hamilton signed off. The cause of death was undetermined.

Well, undetermined, if you don't have a cause, leaving it undetermined was the right thing to do. Despite that odd position of Corey's arms, and despite an unexplained cut on her lip, two days later, at her mother's request, Corey Loveless was cremated. And Quincy police officially closed the investigation. And life went on. Yeah. Nobody cared to look deeper? Nope.

Eight years would pass. And then a curious cop followed a hunch. You had a detective in the Quincy police department, Adam Gibson. Looking at the photos and with Corey's body being in that condition, it just didn't make sense to me. Within six months after the mysterious death of his wife, Corey, on Valentine's Day 2006, Curtis Loveless rekindled his love life and began dating a student in a class he taught at Quincy University. The woman, named Erica, was eight years his junior.

They married two years later, but she and his then 14-year-old daughter, Lindsay, did not get along, and Lindsay became estranged from her father. Lindsay apparently didn't have a place in that family. Why? I don't know. Lindsay then moved out of her father's house and in with her grandmother Marty, Corey's mom. Kurt chose his second wife over his daughter. Marriage number two fell apart in 2013. But once again, Curtis didn't stay single for long. He got married for a third time, months after his divorce in 2013. This time to his current wife, Christine, whom he had known at Quincy High School.

I hadn't seen him in, you know, 25 years, so that was a little bizarre. I didn't know if he was married, if he was divorced. I really didn't know what the situation was. And so I open the door and he looks at me and the first thing he says is, you're so much prettier than your pictures. He is funny, charming, compassionate. He's a wonderful husband. We're just really good together. We're actually best friends. While the end of 2013 marked a new beginning for Curtis and Christine... Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to see things. It was around that same time that a newly promoted detective at the Quincy Police Department, Adam Gibson, took a fresh look at Corey's death. I was at the office just reading old case files and the loveless case

popped into my head. The more Gibson read about the eight-year-old case, the more he was intrigued. What in that file made you say, huh, I'm going to go find the pictures in the hard copy of this file? Just the general description of the position of her hands, it did not appear to me that that could have been a natural death. This is a drawing by an artist who has seen those graphic photos. The pictures show Corey's body in bed, lifeless, but with her arms bent at the elbows and bizarrely frozen in the air. It didn't really make sense, and there was no real explanation for him. Gibson consulted county coroner James Keller, who was deputy coroner back in 2006.

It bothered me for years. When you found out that Detective Gibson was moving forward, what was your reaction? I think it is definitely time to open. Gibson kept investigating the old case, secretly, out of the public eye. He consulted the original pathologist, Dr. Jessica Bowman, who had ruled the death undetermined. Bowman told him she would no longer participate in the case, but sent him for another opinion to a pathologist she knew in Chicago, Dr. Chakutis. She said basically that she saw nothing suspicious

about the death. So why wasn't that the end of it for you? I mean, you have Dr. Bowman who says undetermined. You have now Dr. Chakutis who who is accredited, and is telling you, look, it's undetermined. I don't see a problem with it. Because I didn't believe that the information that Dr. Chakotis had given was credible to what I already knew. So Gibson sought yet another opinion. Enter Dr. Jane Turner, an assistant medical examiner in St. Louis. Was there anything in there that you looked at and said, well, that's interesting? Enter Dr. Jane Turner, an assistant medical examiner in St. Louis.

Was there anything in there that you looked at and said, well, that's interesting? Yes, it was the scene photographs. The presence of rigor mortis in the position of the hands is unusual, that the hands weren't resting on a surface. They were almost suspended in air. Could you put my arms in the position that you saw Corey Loveless's body in while she was laying down still in the bed? Right. So she was on her back, and her arms were like this, a little bit lower than that. And if they were stuck in this position, what does that tell you at that point?

Well, that more time has passed than the witness stated. The witness being Curtis Loveless, who said he had talked to his wife less than an hour before finding her dead. In my report, I stated 10 to 12 hours. Rigor mortis develops maximally at 12 hours. Based on those photos, the autopsy report, and police reports, Dr. Turner pinpointed the cause of death, suffocation at the hands of another. What did you determine would have caused the suffocation? Well, with the position of the hands, it suggests that there was an object between her hands and her body,

and it appears that there's a pillow missing. So I suppose that a pillow was used to suffocate her. While Detective Gibson had a new timeline and a cause of death, he also had one big problem. Remember, the three oldest Loveless children insisted they saw their mother alive that morning sitting on the stairs. The one thing I do know is the science of Corey Loveless doesn't match that story. Gibson believes the children may have simply been mistaken. And maybe that's because they weren't interviewed by the original detective, Jeff Baird, until two days after their mother's death.

But if Curtis Loveless did kill his wife the night before, as Dr. Turner believes, what was his motive? Was there life insurance policy? He said there was no life insurance. Was he having an affair? I have not heard that. So what's the motive? What does he gain? He told one of the witnesses that their last 90 days of their marriage hadn't been good. People fight and argue all the time. That's true. How did it lead to murder in this situation? It's the million-dollar question.

How certain are you now that Curtis Loveless murdered his wife, Corey? I'm 100% certain. Not one bit of evidence has been proven that Corey was murdered. August 2014, eight years after the death of Corey Loveless, Curtis Loveless is leaving his law office at lunchtime when police confront him. Curtis Loveless was arrested this afternoon. Loveless is accused of suffocating his former wife, Corey Loveless. Our top story tonight, a community in shock. Nobody had any idea this was happening, none of the local media. Nobody had any idea this was happening, none of the local media.

The same day as a grand jury indictment comes down, he's arrested in broad daylight, cuffed and stuffed right outside his law office and taken down to booking. A very good friend of mine works for a news station in Quincy, and he said, Christine, Kurt has been arrested on the first-degree murder charge of Corey Didrikson Lovelace. arrested on the first-degree murder charge of Corey Didrikson Lovelace. And I immediately responded with, that makes no sense. Corey wasn't murdered. There was nothing to prepare us for this, and it's still probably the worst day I've experienced to this point in my life. The former Golden Boy would spend the next 17 months in jail, held on $5 million bond. For Kurt, he tells me that he stays strong with God.

He is very prayerful and devoted, and he stays strong with our kids and myself. He pled not guilty, awaiting his trial until just over three weeks ago. A decade after Corey Lovis' death, the murder trial of her husband, Curtis, is about to begin here at the Adams County Courthouse. After hearing all the evidence, it may come down to just one question for the jury. Do they believe Corey's children, who say they saw their mother alive that morning? Or do they believe two medical examiners who insist the science says she was killed the night before? Being a small town as we are. These are some of the jurors who would decide Curtis's fate. And by a show of hands, how many of you knew Curtis Loveless and his family or knew of them prior to this? Okay, so the majority who are here.

Is it the trial of the century in Quincy? Yes. And why is that? Just because of who he is? Absolutely. The bigger they come, the harder they fall. Quincy was consumed with this trial on social media and in the coffee shops. I don't think the case should have been brought to start with. All they got is circumstantial evidence and no smoking guns. The prosecution lays out its dramatic case that Curtis Loveless smothered his wife, Corey,

the mother of his four children, with a pillow the night before Valentine's Day. Jurors hear from world-renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Bodden and Dr. Jane Turner. They both testify that Corrie had to have died the night before. It's the whole picture. She had drying artifact of her lips. She had drying artifact of her eyes. Again, something that develops with the passage of time after death. Rigor mortis develops maximally at 12 hours. And with her arms in that position suggests to me that she was in full rigor. The prosecution uses Turner to explain how a cut found during the autopsy on Corey's lip was caused by her being suffocated.

There's a bruise on the inside of the lip and with it a laceration. And that's from blunt force trauma. So some forceful pressure was applied to the mouth. But then in this battle of the experts, the defense counters with their own, Dr. George Nichols. Nichols says Corey most likely died of causes related to an enlarged liver due to drinking and her bulimia. I think she died as a result of natural diseases related to her liver disease, but the corroborative tests to confirm that were not performed, so I cannot come to that conclusion scientifically. My opinion is there is no proof that this woman was murdered.

And as to Dr. Turner's claim that the degree of rigor mortis shows she had to have been dead 10 to 12 hours? As I said repeatedly in there, rigor mortis does not occur at a specific fixed time. There's a huge variability from person to person. Further, Nichols says Dr. Turner was only working from photos. She never actually saw Corey's body in person. And as to that single cut on Corey's lip? Nonsense, Nichols says.

That's eliminated because she does not have sufficient injuries to the inner surface of her lips. But she did have that one injury. One, not multiple. How many teeth do I have? Okay. Each of those is capable of making at least one, if not more, injuries to the inside of my lips as I'm fighting back against somebody who's holding a pillow over me. It was a back and forth sparring match on the stand between the prosecution. If the testimony of the dueling pathologist had jurors scratching their heads, it was in stark contrast to the testimony of the loveless boys, which clearly pulled at their hearts. The kids will be in my mind probably forever. The prosecution calls the youngest son Larson,

four years old at the time, who recounts his story about poking mommy to wake her up. Juror Theresa Tarr was struck by the image. It was an emotional testimony, thinking that a four-year-old might have been poking his dead mom. Once he got off the stand and he came out through those doors, he just fell into my arms. They've dealt with enough hurt in their life, so for them to have to feel any kind of pain. Then the defense calls the two older sons. Logan, now 18 and dressed in his military uniform, and Lincoln, 17 years old.

A normally stoic Curtis breaks down when each of the two older boys takes the stand, recounting how their father came to school that day to tell them their mother had died. came to school that day to tell them their mother had died. This was the first day we saw any real emotion out of Curtis Loveless as he broke down in tears. Both boys emphatically tell the court they are, quote, 100% certain they saw their mother alive that morning. Logan says he even remembers asking his ailing mom if he could stay home from school to take care of her.

And my kids aren't going to lie. There's been people who have said that memories were planted. That's not who my kids are. And then came Lindsay, the final key testimony for the prosecution. She was 12 at the time her mother died. Now she's the star witness in her father's trial. How important is Lindsay's testimony? Oh, it's critical. It's the whole ballgame.

Up until this trial, Lindsay had always insisted she saw her mother alive that morning. But now, at 22 years old, under oath in the courtroom, she says she cannot be sure about what she remembers from that day. I've had a long time to think about that, and it's almost frustrating not to remember because you want to. And yet immediately afterwards, defense attorneys show a videotape made just two years earlier where Lindsay tells Detective Gibson she absolutely remembers seeing her mom alive that morning. In the end, if you can't, you can't remember. And just say, I'm sorry, like, it was ten years ago.

I can't remember. Were you surprised by Lindsay's testimony when she got up and said, now I don't know what I remember? I can't definitively say anything. Yeah. You never know what anybody is going to say. Lindsay changing her story, the testimony of her brothers, the dueling medical experts. It all had jurors' heads spinning. She didn't remember, and that to me was very hard

because two years earlier she had given a statement to Adam Gibson that she remembered a lot. In the course of deliberations, I changed my mind. You answer one question, but it spawns another question. Right. February 4th, 2016. Closing arguments. Curtis Loveless, who has prosecuted cases in this very courthouse, walks in for the conclusion of his own murder trial. His new wife, Christine, says this trial has taken a toll, especially on Curtis's sons. We know that every day the focus is bringing their father and my husband home.

It's so cumbersome to be raising a family while we're still doing all that we're doing. But we're managing. It's difficult, but we're managing. For Detective Adam Gibson, who started it all, the stakes could not be any higher. I want people to remember Corey out of all this. She deserves to have her day just like everybody else. The jury will decide if somebody took that life from her. And you'll live with the decision, whatever it is? Whatever it is.

But that decision may not be so easy. The length of time that it takes for rigor mortis to set in, I think I've heard it a half dozen different ways. So I'm not sure. And if I'm not sure, I'm not sure a jury member is sure. During the deliberations? Yes. How many of you thought it boiled down to

you either believe the kids or you believe the science? All of you. Going back on the hands thing, that was the most debated thing. I mean, we had jury members on the floor. You know, just how do we lay? How does, you know, do we hold the covers? Do we... Jury members got on the floor and put themselves in this position like this.

Yes. To try to figure it out. Right. And did that help? The show and tell of it help you? It did, but it almost left more questions than answers. Meanwhile, across town, Lindsay Loveless, estranged from her father, stepmother, and brothers, awaits the verdict from the comfort

of the home she shares with her grandmother. Yeah, we need a verdict. We need some kind of closure. Some kind. And hopefully the boys, the family, the grandparents, that everybody can get back together again someday down in the future. Yeah. If found guilty, Curtis Loveless could spend the rest of his life behind bars. I have not gotten a lot of sleep in the last year and a half. Every minute is thinking about something else or something else we need to be doing with the goal of bringing Kurt home and proving his innocence. After 16 and a half hours of jury deliberations over two days, Lindsay receives that much-anticipated call.

They're about to walk in. Breaking news here inside the Adams County Courthouse, Judge Hardwick did just now declare a mistrial. Curtis's current wife could be seen sobbing. The three loveless boys all holding hands before that verdict was reached. Christine, any reaction at all? No comment. No comment. We're obviously disappointed, but the jury worked hard. It was unreal, and I felt so empty and out of breath.

And the only thing I knew to do was to hug my kids and let them know that it was going to be okay, and it is going to be okay. This is just dragging it out more. But if they're hung, they're hung, and there's nothing we can do about it. We just wait for the next round. It's set for retrial, and we plan to retry it. If there's no new evidence, how do you paint it in a different light and not put yourself in a position of a hung jury again?

Maybe not paint it in a different light. Might paint it in the same light and with a different jury. But this jury fought till the end. Did it ever become contentious? It did. It did. I think probably five of the jurors said, there is no way anybody is ever going to change my mind. My mind. Correct.

And two of those, I think, were for guilty, three for not guilty. Correct. And that just deflated me so much. I had a feeling after that first day, we weren't going to come to a unanimous decision. We're stuck. It was pretty obvious. Steve, do you think that Kurt killed Corey?

I don't know. I don't want to believe it because everything I know about Kurt, he could not have done it. I don't hear anyone in this little triad saying, no way, no how, he didn't do it. I wouldn't go that far. Beth. I wouldn't go that far. Beth?

I wouldn't go that far either. As the entire town awaits this new trial, speculation and gossip continue. They've already ruined this guy's life. You know, he's going to have a hard time even if he gets out. The question everyone has, what does the future hold for Curtis Loveless? How does he get his life back in his hometown? Because in the court of public opinion, you think people will always feel like he did something. Yeah. And again, when this ends, I just don't see how he's going to be given the benefit of the doubt.

There's nobody guilty for this crime because there was no crime committed. We will not allow him to sit in that jail cell for one day longer than he absolutely has to. He's been there long enough. Christine says she will never stop fighting to clear her husband's name. Whatever it takes to make sure that my husband is exonerated and the truth is known and he comes home. That's what matters. With Curtis Loveless' fate in limbo, his daughter and her grandmother Marty continue to try to move forward while keeping the focus on the cherished life they lost.

You don't want to lose sight of Corrie. She died too young. She left children. And there's a family here. I mean, Lindsay and her brothers. Try to put that back together if we can and move forward. I just want everyone to find happiness again and be able to remember the good times rather than the bad times.

She was an amazing woman. She loved with the biggest heart. She had a beautiful personality and she touched so many people and that's who she needs to be remembered as. Lovelace's new trial date is scheduled for May 31st. Curtis Lovelace's bail was set at $5 million. He remains in jail. If you were on the jury, how would you have voted? Chat now with correspondent Maureen Maher on Twitter.