that was what s was frustrating. she did find a disease of the litter, which can be associated with sudden death. unusual for women to die of unknown causes, but it does happen. without more to go on, the detective close the case. cory s mother, marty, still in shock. could not bring herself to read the autopsy report. cory was drinking, we do not deny that. she was billy mick, and i did try to talk to curtis about that at one time. told him it was all okay, it was going to be fine. now, as she mourned cory, marty knew that her suffering would only deepen. her husband jon, was dying. we had a visitation for corey, and jon sat next to me and was like, he was saying goodbye to friends to. he didn t come home from the hospital after that. so both those losses, one right on top of the other. yes. within the span of the month,
it was identical to the original autopsy. where did that mean when you encounter that before? and determine can mean a lot of things. but in this autopsy, there were things listed as suspicious for traumatic findings. for one, the abrasion uncork face just under her nose. something they arriving officer had observed that day. the pathologist also noted the cut, which she noted as a laceration on the inside of course upper lip. the detective kept strolling, then saw something that stopped him cold. an electrifying image! the police photos of the dead wife and mother, as she laid in her bed. what jumped out of you? most likely that her arms were in a naturally henry s position. in a weird way? her hands defied gravity. just weird? yes. out there like a statue? yes. we created this graphic representation of corey s bed room.
Feeding industry, towns, and imaginations. the mississippi river gave us tom sawyer and huckleberry then. mark twain grew up in hannibal, missouri. and just across the weather in quincy, illinois, lived another larger than life character. the judge curtis lovelace is this small time kid who wanted to be a star. and for a while he was, a full-time champion for the university of . he s an all american? yes. this is what all 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. finding crime as a prosecutor, serving his country in the national guard. and his community and politics. i want to do some meaningful work that is going to do make a difference in the lives of people. but what happened in this little house in quincy? to one person in particular.
Defense s medical expert concluded there was only one plausible explanation for cory s death. she had a history of drinking and falling and that caused that abrasion and cut. the bottom line she was an alcoholic and bulimic suffering from a 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 organ that is associated with sudden death and with liver failure. reporter: in the end, curtis decided not to take the stand. ten women and two men would decide lovelace s fate. 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 he was coming home. that was it. you were gonna prevail. he s coming home. yes. reporter: but once she arrived, bailiffs led her to a small law library. christine came in. and they explained to her for
Prison upon conviction for first-degree murder. he pleaded not guilty. cameras were not allowed in the courtroom. it s clear to me it didn t 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. reporter: curtis didn t necessarily need prosecutors help to look bad. some of his own actions the day cory died were at the very least unusual. including never calling 911. reporter: he called who? his boss. reporter: his wife is dead in the bed? yes. reporter: and he calls his boss? yeah. and said, my wife is dead. so his boss, said, well, would you like me to call the ambulance people? yes. would you do that? reporter: cory s mom, marty didriksen, who lived just a few houses away, testified that curtis broke the news of her daughter s death in what she thought was the most callous way. there was a knock at her door and curtis was standing there wit