Defense attacks boyfriend’s claim Heckel was ‘afraid’ of Groves
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LOCK HAVEN -- Dennis Taylor said he was having an affair with Kathy Heckel at the time she disappeared in July 1991.
Taylor offered that disclosure and other testimony Tuesday, the second day of the murder trial of Loyd Groves, who is accused of killing Heckel in a cold case that's nearly 30 years old.
Defense attorney George E. Lepley Jr. worked to rip apart Taylor's testimony during cross-examination, presenting one police report after another of interviews Taylor had with police after Heckel went missing and pointing out inconsistencies between those reports and Taylor's prior statements to police and testimony on Tuesday.
Questioned by prosecutor Daniel Dye, Taylor said he and Kathy met as teenagers and were reunited at a wedding in May 1991.
He said they agreed to get together and began a relationship in June 1991, meeting on a regular basis for lunch at various parks and sometimes at her home.
"We'd meet for lunch, talk about our personal lives and we started to care about each other," Taylor said.
He said the relationship became sexual, even though he was married and Kathy was married, too.
He said on July 9, he met Kathy at 9 a.m. at the Mill Hall Community Park. He got into her car and she drove them to her house.
He said he spent the whole day with her there. He said they also had sexual relations in her vehicle at the fish hatchery at Lamar, Twin Kiss ice cream restaurant near Howard and at the Porter Township Park along Nittany Valley Drive.
Taylor said he knew about Kathy's relationship with Groves.
On July 9, 1991, Taylor said Kathy told him she wanted to get out of that relationship, calling Groves a '"clinging vine."
Taylor said Kathy told him Groves did not want the relationship to end and he had been sending her cards and calling her all of the time.
On the day Kathy disappeared, July 15, 1991, Taylor said he spoke with Kathy at about 9 a.m. and they made plans to meet that evening at 9 p.m. at Twin Kiss.
At about 11:30 a.m., Taylor said he received a call from Kathy and "she was very upset and frightened."
She said, 'he wants me to go to lunch with him.'"
Taylor said he was busy at work and told her he'd call her right back. When he tried to call her back 10 minutes later, Taylor said she was already gone from work.
"I never got the chance to talk to her. I just wish I had the chance to talk to her. I feel partially responsible because I couldn't talk to her," Taylor said, grabbing a tissue to wipe his teary eyes.
He said he kept trying to call her that day, but she never answered.
Taylor said he went to play golf at Nittany Country Club that afternoon.
The following day, Taylor said he went voluntarily to the state police barracks to tell them what he knew … he said he wanted to do anything he could to help find Kathy.
When questioned by Lepley, who had more than a half dozen police reports in his hand, Taylor said he talked to police many more times, including twice more on July 16, and also on July 17, 18, 19, 23 and 28, each time saying he wanted to help police.
"You were trying to convince police you had nothing to do with it, that you wanted to help them find who was responsible, but you never told them that Kathy said 'he wants to take me to lunch.' It's not there. You never told police she told you she was frightened. There's nothing about lunch or being afraid in any of the police reports," Lepley argued, reading off the dates Taylor talked to police.
"No, not in that conversation," Taylor responded to each date Lepley read off.
"The first time you said anything to police is 23 years later in 2014 during a preliminary hearing. You were under oath and said, 'Kathy told you he wants to take me to lunch. But you didn't say who. Then during the grand jury investigation under oath, you said she told you 'he wants to take me to lunch' and said you didn't know who she meant.
"Now today, you say it was Loyd," Lepley said. "Isn't it true you don't know who she was referring to?"
"It was a long time ago," Taylor answered.
Lepley also questioned Taylor about earlier testimony Tuesday, when Taylor said he saw a gray conversion van parked near Porter Township Park as he was leaving a meeting between he and Kathy on July 11. He said he saw the same vehicle at the state police barracks after the investigation began.
"Isn't it true," Lepley said, (that) "it wasn't until 2018 that you said you recognized the van at the barracks?"
"No, that's not true," Taylor insisted.
"When to the best of your knowledge did you tell police the van at the barracks was at the park?" Lepley asked.
"The day I went to the barracks," Taylor asserted.
Lepley continued, "When you testified today, you said you heard fear in her voice that morning, then you played golf at Nittany Country Club. Did you sign in?"
"I think so," Taylor responded.
"You know that you told police you signed in, but when police went there to look, those pages were missing. You told police you thought the club pro removed them." Lepley continued.
Taylor answered, "I don't remember that. I'm not saying I didn't know that. I don't remember."
"You told police about playing golf because to some extent it was an alibi," Lepley charged.
Taylor admitted, "Yes, you could say that."
"Were you fingerprinted?" Lepley asked.
"I don't remember," Taylor replied.
On redirect, Dye asked Taylor why he was reaching out to police so much.
Taylor said he was "positive there was foul play" in Heckel's disappearance.
"Did you murder Kathy Heckel? Dispose of her body? Remove material from your vehicle that had DNA?" Dye asked.
"No," Taylor said emphatically.
"Do you recall whether or not she identified the defendant by name on the 15th," Dye asked.
Taylor said, "I'm not sure."
"Are you sure she said 'he wants to meet'?" Dye asked.
"Yes," Taylor answered.
"Are you sure of your description of her being frightened on the phone?" Dye continued.
Again, Taylor responded, "yes."
Lepley questioned Taylor again, asking him to read two pages of a police report.
"Basically, this talks about four pages of notes that you personally prepared for police. Earlier we talked about some of the statements that I asked you about that you indicated that you thought you told police … or that you told us that you thought maybe you told police. Is that correct?" Lepley asked.
"No, I don't remember," Taylor said.
"Do you think police put down everything you told them?" the attorney asked.
"Yes," Taylor replied.
Of the notes, Taylor said, "I think I made them at the request of Trooper Caldwell a week or so after the event. During our conversations, I asked if it would help if I write down these events as often and as much as I can."
"Was this written a week after July 15?" Lepley asked of the notes.
Taylor said it was.
Then Lepley asked Taylor to read a portion of the police report containing the notes.
"At 8:05, talked to her fine ... talked about meeting that evening … 11:30-11:45 she called but I couldn't talk … tried to call her back but was unable to speak with her," he read.
"So in these notes you didn't say she was afraid?" Lepley asked.
Taylor replied, "yes."
"And you told police you would make these notes as accurate as possible, yet you didn't put this down," Lepley continued.
"I should have," Taylor answered, "I didn't put it on there but I should have."
"Didn't think it was important?" Lepley asked.
"No," said Taylor.
"Why didn't you do it?" asked Lepley.
"I didn't, but I should have done it," Taylor said.
"You agreed there were two interviews … and you never once mentioned this?" Lepley said.
"Yes," said Taylor .
"I tried to write as many things down as I could. Obviously I forgot ... she said, 'he wants me to go to lunch' ... that's obviously very, very important. The fact that I did not write that down doesn't mean she didn't say it," Taylor insisted.