6 years, 10 months ago by Scott Hardy
Allegedly called Erika Gomez “Cory” during attacks
Prosecutors in the upcoming Curtis Lovelace murder trial have filed motions to admit, as evidence, claims that the former Adams County prosecutor regularly beat his 2nd wife, Erika Gomez, calling her by his first wife’s name while he did so, choked her once in 2012, and tried to poison her and her daughter after the marriage ended.
Special Prosecutors Ed Parkinson and Julia Wykoff filed the five motions last Tuesday in Adams County Court. They claim that Lovelace was, if not involved with Gomez, romantically interested in her before Cory Lovelace’s 2006 death. They cite instances where Gomez, who started taking Lovelace’s Business Law class at Quincy University in January, 2006, would see Lovelace repeatedly at a fitness center, as well as the grocery store and local bars. Gomez claims the relationship did not start until August, 2006, six months after Cory’s death.
Prosecutors also want to introduce evidence of domestic violence during Lovelace and Gomez’s marriage, including an incident in May, 2012 where after a day of drinking, Lovelace allegedly got into a fight with Gomez and “went for her throat.” Another motion wants to introduce evidence that during other instances of violence, Lovelace, while allegedly drunk, would call Gomez “Cory”, saying once in July, 2012, “Cory, you can’t do anything to me.” Another time, the motion claims that Gomez locked herself in a bedroom, while Lovelace beat on the door, yelling, “You shouldn’t lock me out, Cory.”
A fourth motion wants to introduce as evidence a statement that Lovelace, while intoxicated, told Gomez that he “remembered how it felt, her writhing under him.” The fifth motion alleges that Lovelace poisoned Gomez and her daughter after the marriage ended in late 2012. It alleges that after Lovelace moved out their home in December, 2012, Gomez and her daughter became ill, and that Gomez lost 20 pounds from constant vomiting. Both suffered from “extreme fatigue, and she (Gomez) noticed white lines in her fingernails and significant hair loss.” The motion goes on to say that Lopez’s daughter, Darlene Steinkamp, while home sick from school one day, saw Lovelace in their kitchen, without his knowledge. It alleges that, after Steinkamp told Gomez about the visit, Gomez threw out all the food in their home and changed all the locks, and that the two were able to recover. Prosecutors also hinted that Cory Lovelace may also have been poisoned, saying she suffered from symptoms similar to Gomez’s in the days before her death.
The motions were submitted to try and admit “evidence of other crimes and bad acts”, less than two months before the start of the re-trial in Sangamon County Court in Springfield January 23. As part of its’ filings, prosecutors included a portion of an email Gomez sent to Quincy Police Detective Adam Gibson after the February mis-trial, where she said “I did knew (sic) Curt when his wife was alive. I heard I was ruled out because I didn’t know Curt until after his wife died that is not correct. He was every where I was both when she was alive and after her death.”
The former Quincy School Board President is facing one count of 1st Degree Murder in Cory Lovelace’s death. Prosecutors claim that Lovelace smothered her with a pillow the night before her body was found. He’s free on $3.5 million bond, and is confined to his home.
The motions are available below.
