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Witness: Groves, Heckel met often behind former Kmart

Loyd W. Groves

LOCK HAVEN — Kathy Heckel and Loyd Groves met regularly behind the former Kmart, now the Clinton County Community Center on Walnut Street, before her disappearance, a prosecution witness testified Tuesday afternoon.

Harry Wolf, who worked in the service garage at the rear of the former Kmart, said the first time he saw them together in the parking area “the two were standing (there) staring at each other” next to Groves’ van.

Wolf confirmed that many people would meet behind the former Kmart, treating it as a “lovers lane”.

The two met in the lot every day for two months at around 3:30 or 4 p.m., Wolf said.

When he previously spoke with police after Kathy’s disappearance, he told officers they would spend between 15 to 20 minutes there. Yesterday he said he thought it was more like a half hour to 45 minutes.

He said Kathy would drive her car there and Groves would be there, too. Kathy would enter the van through the sliding doors on the side or through the back, he said.

Wolf, who also volunteered as an AYSO soccer coach, said he knew both Kathy and Groves because their children participated in the program.

Multiple former Hammermill Paper Co. employees who worked at the plant at the time of Kathy’s disappearance, testified Tuesday.

The first was Charles Lee Saiers, a supervisor at Hammermill in the summer of 1991.

Saiers said he recalled a meeting on July 15, 1991 that was interrupted by Groves loudly slamming the door in the conference room.

Groves then walked through the conference room to another door, which led to a basement area, slamming the door behind him again, Saiers said.

He explained the doorway Groves came from led to the plant offices, which included his office and also Groves.

Saiers found the outburst to be very unlike Groves.

“Loyd really was pretty cool and I never saw him show any emotions at all,” he said.

Kathy had been in the room, pouring coffee at the time of the incident, he said.

Kathy remained in the room until after she finished pouring coffee and then left the room through the opposite door as Groves, heading towards the offices, he said.

He did not recall seeing Groves or Kathy interact at all after the incident.

Another supervisor who was at the meeting testified through a deposition.

Kenneth Anderson, who has passed away, had his testimony recorded on July 1, 2016 with Clinton County Senior Judge Carson Brown presiding.

Anderson worked at Hammermill for 35 years and remembered the morning of July 15, 1991.

“I remember that day because we heard a heated argument between Loyd and Kathy Heckel,” he said.

The alleged argument took place outside of the conference room in what he believed was Groves’ office before lunch time, Anderson said.

Anderson knew both Groves and Kathy and said he could recognize their voices but couldn’t understand what they were saying.

This was after Groves had slammed two doors on his way through the conference room, he said.

“He (Groves) sort of slammed (the door) … (it was) sort of heated … (he) slammed the door then came in and slammed the door when he came out,” Anderson said.

Anderson recalled seeing Kathy in the conference room before the argument took place, pouring coffee and handing out donuts.

He didn’t see Kathy again after she left the room and had not seen her since, he said.

However, he reported seeing Groves that afternoon at approximately 3 or 4 p.m. giving children a tour of the facility, he said.

He specifically remembered speaking with Groves about new ‘Posted’ signs he’d put up on his property, he said.

He remembered asking if that meant he would no longer be allowed to hunt there to which Groves replied he was still allowed, he said.

When asked by Defense Attorney David Lindsay what Groves was like at the time, he said “(he) seemed the same.”

Jean Carter, another former Hammermill employee, had her testimony recorded on June 20 of this year.

Carter was diagnosed with cancer and was worried she wouldn’t be able to testify in person.

Carter worked at Hammermill as a secretary in various departments for 44 years and was working during Kathy’s disappearance.

“I was going out to lunch and I was walking to the parking lot and Kathy was walking ahead of me,” Carter recalled of that day. “She was walking ahead of me and I was going through the lot and I happened to notice a van.”

She continued, saying the van was backed into its spot unlike most vehicles which were pulled in with the rears facing out. She remembered seeing Groves in the vehicle.

“When I went to wave to him his face was so red … just like he was terribly angry,” she said. “He didn’t even look at me … he was looking at Kathy and I thought ‘goodness he must be mad at her.'”

Carter said she assumed Kathy was just walking across the parking lot to her car and Groves was only looking at her and nowhere else.

Carter didn’t wave to Groves and kept walking, she said.

She couldn’t recall if she saw Groves or Kathy leave the parking lot.

Carter said the incident stuck out in her mind because of Kathy’s disappearance.

Lindsay referenced a police report filed in September of 1991 where Carter told officers that Groves looked directly at her.

Carter was surprised, she said, but admitted it’s possible she may have forgotten.

She also said everyone left for lunch at approximately the same time, meaning multiple people were in the parking lot at the same time.

Lindsay pointed out that Groves could have been running which is why his face was red and that Carter couldn’t be certain he was angry.

Carter, who did not know Groves at the time, agreed.

Carol Smith, who shared an office with Kathy in 1991, was next to take the stand.

She testified that the morning of Kathy’s disappearance, Kathy told her she had to run errands during lunch which included going to the bank and dropping money off at her home for her daughter.

After Kathy failed to return to work after lunch, Smith reported it immediately to her direct superior and then began monitoring the parking lot, she said. She also kept an eye out for Groves’ vehicle.

“I watched the parking lot for both of them and didn’t see either of them,” she said.

She said she did this because she knew generally where people parked, although there were multiple lots around the plant.

She continued to search for both vehicles until she left at 4 o’clock and saw neither.

Defense Attorney George E. Lepley Jr. showed Smith a police reported from 1998, the first time she spoke to police, that said she only checked the secured lot not the unsecured lot.

“In all the time I worked at (Hammermill) I don’t recall one lot being secured and another not being secured,” Smith said. “I can’t imagine using those terms … if I said that to him and that’s what he wrote down I must have said it, but I don’t recall.”

“He (Groves) parked in a lot that was visible to those windows … that’s where he parked in the morning,” she continued. “That’s where he normally parked; that’s where he would have parked in the afternoon.”

Lepley asked if Smith knew when employees at Hammermill learned that Kathy never went home that night.

She replied, “I don’t.”

Smith could recall learning about her not going home the following day, July 16, 1991.

She saw Groves that day as well.

“He was in (the hallway) … he had his back against the wall and he was looking toward the entrance of the building … looking uncomfortable … terrified … terror is what comes to my mind,” she said. “He looked terrified.”

Before that incident, Smith recalled Groves’ usual demeanor as very laid back and not emotional.

Michael Emmett, a gate keeper at Hammermill Paper Co., told jurors he saw a van similar to Groves’ leave the parking lot on July 15, 1991 at 12:05 p.m. but could not see the driver.

Another Hammermill employee, Terry Moore, said he spoke with Kathy the morning before her disappearance to discuss plans for an upcoming company picnic at Knoebels Grove.

Moore said Kathy received another call and had to hang up with him and called him back later.

She seemed fine both times, he said.

Deb Lutz said she saw Kathy in line at the credit union on Bellefonte Avenue at about 12 noon on July 15.

Kathy’s demeanor seemed normal, although they didn’t talk long, she said.

(Editor’s Note: While the Express will cover the Groves homicide trial today, the early press start for the Thanksgiving Day edition will prevent us from reporting Wednesday’s testimony until Friday. See Friday’s edition for continued reporting of the trial, which will resume Monday morning.)

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