commentary by Patrick H. Moore
In the last few weeks here at All Things Crime Blog we’ve covered the cases of two truly odd individuals, first the Horned Man – Caius Veiovis — and then last week’s prize Satanist — Pazuzu Illah Algarad. Caius is now a convicted murderer who will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole and Pazuzu, if convicted, will probably get a similar sentence.
With the help of a Mr. Stephen Daniels, I now realize that both of these gentlemen, who I’ve referred to as “Look at Me” types, likely suffer from Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD). These are the folks around whom every scene must revolve, the folks who can never sit quietly and appreciatively while others hold forth, folks who absolutely must be the center of attention.
Today, however, we do not get to examine another whacked out dude; rather, we will cast a preliminary glance at a man so wonderfully normal and successful that no one would ever expect that he too would find himself charged with premeditated first-degree-murder, and in his case, a murder that could be seen as even MORE AWFUL than the murders that Caius and Pazuzu have been charged with for the simple reason that this pillar of the community is charged with gasp strangling his own wife on Valentine’s Day!
Few in this former port city along the Mississippi River had more cachet than Curtis Lovelace: an all-Big Ten football player, longtime prosecutor, school board president, sports broadcaster and educator at the local university.
That sparkling image in the 40,000-strong western Illinois community of Quincy was shattered when he recently was charged with suffocating his first wife and mother of four on Valentine’s Day in 2006, unsettling many followers of the case that had remained open because a pathologist and coroner’s jury never pinpointed why the 38-year-old woman died so suddenly.
The scandal, cracked open last December when an investigator gave the case a fresh look, has all the makings of a made-for-TV flick: A community pillar is whisked away by police as he steps from his law office for lunch – eight years after his first wife’s death.
So as you can see, in its own way this is some truly hot stuff. A 45-year-old community role model and conspicuous success story strangles his own wife and gets away with it for the next 8 years.
If we simply run through Mr. Lovelace’s index of accomplishments, we can hardly fail to be impressed. For starters, while attending Quincy High School in the 1980s, he managed to maintain a “B” average while earning SIX varsity letters. This esteemed gent ran track, wrestled and played football, and was such a star that somewhere down the road he was enshrined in the school’s sports hall of fame.
So far, so good. Damned impressive, in fact, but nothing compared to what was still to come. Off goes Boy Wonder to the University of Illinois in good old Champaign-Urbana and what does he do? While playing center, he is named team captain and is a two-time all-Big Ten selection.
And… (there’s always an “and” in Dude’s sterling string of accomplishments) , Dude is an ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN. Damn! I’m ready to salute.
Here’s what our gentlemanly alleged strangler had to say about it 24 years ago:
“I did not come to the University of Illinois as a star athlete or a star student. I think I’ve reached this point with hard work.”
Clearly, a pleasingly humble over-achiever.
Then Lovelace made a very serious miscalculation. Dude married a former high-school classmate named Cory Didriksen in 1991. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with marrying someone from your high school but you should wait until you’re at least 47.
Let the damned paint dry on the wall. Step out a little. If you return home to your home town, a conquering hero, you should carefully select a wife from Lower Slobovia or some other obscure locale, not a local girl.
So what do you do when you’re already quite the success story? Simple. You get a law degree and pass the bar so that you can make the big bucks. Then you’re on your way. So naturally Dude did precisely that.
Ulp! Dude made another mistake. He had a bunch of kids, four to be exact, with poor Cory. (Of course, she didn’t know she was “Poor Cory” at the time. She thought she was “Lucky Cory” landing such a big old fish.)
After becoming an Illinois lawyer, Dude became an assistant prosecutor in Quincy.
INTRODUCTORY CHORDS TO BEETHOVEN’S 5TH SYMPHONY
Then the shit hits the freakin’ fan. Crimesider writes:
According to Curtis Lovelace’s account detailed in transcripts of a coroner’s inquest, his wife, Cory, had been sick for days come Feb. 14, 2006, when he drove three of the couple’s four children to school and returned to find his wife dead in bed. An investigator said Curtis Lovelace never summoned emergency responders or tried to resuscitate her.
An autopsy and the coroner’s jury weeks later failed to determine the cause of death.
“At the time it happened, we just considered it a tragedy,” said Mike Cadwell, 64, who has been a barber for 40 years. “I knew there was speculation, questions. But he never seemed to be at the center of it.”
Dude appeared to be the Teflon Man…
But there were chinks in his armor. He married twice more in fairly rapid succession. Big mistake. If you’ve strangled the ex on Valentine’s Day, and have cleverly taken steps to keep it on the Down-Low, you do not get married twice during the next few years. Once is fine if you wait for a suitable period of time, and though your new wife can be moderately attractive, she needs to be sedate and hopefully even a bit mousy. Nothing to draw attention to yourself. Cuz remember, these are the Rules of Murder. If you don’t obey the Rules, you will get popped. I can almost guarantee it.
Dude’s bad break came when “a newly promoted police detective dusted off the file and enlisted two pathologists to weigh in. Each concluded she was suffocated, and Curtis Lovelace was indicted in August.”
Of course, we don’t know what evidence the prosecutors have suggesting that Cory Didriksen was strangled by Curtis Lovelace. Presumably they have something pretty strong but, on the other hand, we know from experience that prosecutors and/or detectives sometime get carried away and start nudging the evidence in one direction or another so that it matches What They Want to Believe.
Lovelace, 45, now faces a first-degree murder charge, to which he has pleaded not guilty. During a Thursday hearing, Judge Bob Hardwick set a trial date for Jan. 26.
* * * * *
So what do Caius Veiovis, Pazuzu Illah Agarad and Curtis Lovelace have in common? Simple. They’ve all been charged with first degree murder.
I would wager Pazuzu will be convicted. After all, they did dig up skeletons in his back yard and he reportedly loved to brag about killing, eating and dismembering prostitutes, something you can be reasonably sure Mr. Lovelace never engaged in.
And I’m not at all certain that Lovelace is even guilty, and if it turns out he’s not, I owe him an apology for having fun at his expense.
But suppose he is convicted? He will end up languishing in an Illinois state prison, perhaps the infamous Joliet State Prison, with other convicted killers. They will swap stories and tell lies. And sooner or later Curtis Lovelace will realize that you shouldn’t marry a woman from your high school until you’re at least 47 years old. Not when you’ve been a BMOC. You gotta let the paint dry on the wall.