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Kathy Heckel cold case coming to trial

Kathy Heckel

By LANA MUTHLER

and SARAH PAEZ

lmuthler@lockhaven.com

spaez@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN — A case that has haunted Clinton County for nearly 30 years is finally going to trial.

Almost 27 years ago, Kathy Heckel disappeared. A 40-year-old wife and mother, she left for lunch like usual from the International Paper Co. plant in Castanea Township on July 15, 1991.

She was never seen again.

Police found her car two days later in the parking lot of the Lock Haven Hospital, in third gear with the emergency brake applied. None of her bank accounts had been touched, no cards used.

And what began as a puzzling missing persons case turned into a murder investigation.

It grew into a decades-long case that cycled through many investigators and turned up hundreds of leads that went nowhere.

But then, two and a-half years ago–nearly 25 years after Heckel went missing–a former local resident was charged with her slaying and jailed.

Loyd Groves, 68, has remained in the Clinton County Correctional Facility, except for a couple of weeks when he was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.

The two had been involved in a covert affair that a grand jury believed turned violent after Heckel tried to end the relationship. Groves did not have an alibi during the time of her disappearance and her blood was found in his car, according to the grand jury report.

But no body has been recovered, and the case lacks substantial physical evidence.

Now, mere weeks before the anniversary of Kathy’s disappearance, Groves will stand trial for her murder.

Jury selection is scheduled to start Monday in the large courtroom at the Clinton County Courthouse, and is set to last all week. The trial will begin immediately after a panel of 12 jurors and five alternates is seated. Three weeks have been set aside in the court schedule for the trial.

The court will also announce Monday if it has decided to allow a key piece of testimony from one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Dennis Taylor.

Retired Lycoming County Judge Kenneth Brown will be on the bench, after local judges recused themselves from the case.

Daniel Dye, senior attorney from the State Attorney General’s Office, is the prosecutor. It was that office that held a grand jury investigation and recommended Groves be charged with Heckel’s murder.

Loyd’s defense team includes Lock Haven attorney David Lindsay, Williamsport attorney George Lepley Jr. and private investigator Tom Bruno.

At a recent pre-trial hearing two weeks ago, Judge Brown talked about the proceedings for the jury selection. He said five alternates will be chosen due to the length of the trial.

The jury pool will be questioned en masse at first and then individually in a separate room by prosecution and defense attorneys, as each is considered for the panel, Judge Brown said.

The decades-old case is likely to draw a crowd to the courtroom each day as dozens of witnesses are expected to testify.

Among them will be Heckel’s family, who have attended every court proceeding since Groves was arrested on Jan. 29, 2015.

Every year, on the anniversary of her disappearance, they have kept vigil for Kathy, hoping for a break in the case. Now, they wait to see if the man accused of killing her will be found guilty.

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