David I. Lindsey

LOCK HAVEN — “There was no time for him to do anything to Kathy Heckel,” defense attorney David Lindsay said as he made his closing arguments Thursday afternoon.

Using an extensive timeline, Lindsay methodically took the jury through the day of July 15, 1991, the day his client Loyd Groves is accused of killing Kathy Heckel.

“If all the witnesses are correct, and most of them are commonwealth witnesses, it’s almost impossible for him to do what’s alleged. There’s no time for him to do anything,” Lindsay said.

From 7 in the morning through lunch, dinner and to bed, Lindsay showed that witnesses provided testimony proving where Groves was each hour of the day.

Lindsay also pointed out the many times throughout the six-day trial that evidence showed that police and the commonwealth ignored or didn’t bother to follow up on certain evidence provided to them over the 27 years since Heckel disappeared.

It was the defense team that followed up on that evidence and sought out information that provided many inconsistencies and more than enough reasonable doubt, he said.

Lindsay detailed his timeline using testimony during the trial:

– At 7 a.m., Charles Saiers said he saw Groves when he crossed through the conference room. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and Kathy Heckel was there serving coffee and refreshments. At no time did Saiers see Kathy and Groves interact.

– At 8:05 a.m., everything was fine, normal.

– At 9:15 a.m., Kathy called her daughter Alicia to wake her up.

– At 9:40 p.m., Kathy went home to give Alicia money for a physical.

– At 10:20, Kathy returned to Hammermill.

– At 11:45, Dennis Taylor called Kathy.

“Taylor testified that Kathy sounded anxious. In the 13 interviews with Taylor, he never told police that Kathy was fearful and that Loyd wanted to take her to lunch, until he testified during the trial,” Lindsay said.

– Between 11 and 11:45 a.m., Kenneth Anderson heard raised voices and Groves slams a door and goes outside.

– At 11:30 a.m., Edward Moore spoke to Kathy about a picnic. Everything was normal.

– At about 11:30 a.m., Christine Akeley went to her mother’s office, which she shared with Kathy, and everything was normal. Her mother, Carol Smith also said there were no issues or problems.

– At 11:45 a.m., Don Condo spoke to Kathy Heckel about an insurance problem. He said she was in a good mood.

– At 11:45 a.m., Carol Floruss physically interacted with Kathy and told her she was leaving to take her mother to the hospital for surgery.

– At 11:50 a.m. Debra Lutz sees Kathy Heckel in line at the Lock Haven Credit Union Office on Bellefonte Avenue. They speak briefly. Lutz, who also knows Groves, said she did not see Groves or his van in the parking lot. “It took police 23 years to interview Lutz because they called the wrong credit union,” Lindsay said.

Police called the Hammermill Credit Union and were told there were no transactions for Heckel of Lutz. “So there were no records because the banks destroy financial records after seven years,” Lindsay continued.

– At noon, Jean Carter testifies that she saw Groves in the parking lot in his van and he was “angry.”

– At 12:05 p.m., Michael Emmett reported he saw Groves leave Hammermill.

– At 12:45 – 12:55 p.m., Harry Wolfe saw Groves driving his van near the former Kmart on Walnut Street, Wolfe said he’s always at lunch at Kmart every day at 1 p.m.

– Kathy Groves said Loyd came home at lunchtime, changed his clothes and went back to work. It takes 15 minutes to drive home and 15 minutes to drive back to work, Lindsay said, estimating another 10 minutes to change his shirt.

– At 1 p.m. Groves was seen in the hallway at Hammermill.

– At 1:15 p.m. he was talking to Edward Brown.

– At 3 p.m. Groves is seen by Ken Anderson touring the mill with children.

– At 3 p.m. Akeley sees Groves at Hammermill and says nothing strange or amiss.

– At 5 pm. Loyd leaves Hammermill and stops at Little Caesar’s for pizza for the kids and he and his wife go out for dinner to celebrate their anniversary.

“I believe it’s undisputed that Loyd remains in Hammermill until he leaves and picks up Little Caesars pizza .. He then leaves Little Caesars … Once he’s home he gives the pizza to the kids …. Takes his wife to Williamsport for dinner … they return, put the kids to bed and they go to bed together,” Lindsay said.

“Now I think taking all of this into consideration … if all of these witnesses are correct … and if you choose to believe that …. it’s nearly impossible for Loyd to do this … there wasn’t enough time,” he continued.

Once again, Lindsay said there is no way Loyd had time to do anything to Kathy, using the commonwealth’s scenario that he killed her between noon and 3 p.m.

“It defies logic… the way the commonwealth asks you to speculate it occurred. Also, there’s two cars,” he said.

“Clearly Loyd is innocent. Loyd couldn’t have done anything,” he said.

“Not that the timeline and clock isn’t sufficient enough to provide reasonable doubt. You heard of other issues during the trial and each on its own is enough for reasonable doubt,” Lindsay continued.

He talked about the items taken from the van. “Nothing came back. No blood, no DNA, no hair to connect to Kathy Heckel.”

“Dennis Taylor was not treated as a suspect from the word go. From the very first time he voluntarily spoke with police he was always treated as a witness not a suspect. His alibi, he was at a golf course, was not investigated until 13 months later. Come to find out someone ripped those pages out of the log book at the golf course. Police waited 13 months to go check that log book,” Lindsay said.

“The thing I find most puzzling … the police recover fingerprints … they never tested those prints to Dennis Taylor. Guess whose fingerprints they checked … one person … one person … Loyd Groves and they did not match,” he said.

Taylor literally changed his testimony from what he said to the Grand Jury and what he said here, Lindsay said. “Which one is true and which one’s the lie… they both can’t be true.”

“The the commonwealth either chose to ignore or not follow up evidence and there’s nothing that can be done now 27 years later.

“The gun… a 25 Colt that Loyd said he took to work because his kids were playing with it. It was in the top drawer of his desk… not locked… not hidden. Ammunition was in the van. He was trying to hide it. The expert said it was operational but there’s no way to determine when it was fired. It was made between 1916 and 1946.

“Corey Motter, a friend of the Groves kids, was last in the van on July 12, 1991 and said he saw a reddish brown stain in the van. That was three days before Kathy disappeared. Later he sees the carpet where the stain was is cut out. It could be been oil or tar that was cut out.

“Then there’s the Dumpster. Chad Wolfe said he and the Kaluzny kids were Dumpster diving on Aug. 4, 1991 at the Dumpster behind the National Guard Armory. They find items belonging to Kathy Heckel… a purse, wallet, driver’s license. They take them to Sandra Kaluzny. Police come and get them. Police say they have no photos… no record of those items. Why not keep those items? Commonwealth ignored and didn’t follow up on that evidence. They never talked to them (the kids) or asked them what they found.

“We know her license was expired because we went back and looked. They didn’t look,” Lindsay continued, again reminding the jury that police ignored and didn’t follow up on pertinent evidence.

“At the beginning of this case we heard a lot about missing money,” he said.

Lindsay talked about the missing money from the Heckel bank account. He said it was discovered in 1993 because John Heckel had to get security clearances annually and fill out a document. “You’re going to get to see the hand written letter made my John Heckel. It’s under oath … under penalty of perjury. Look at the statement, read the statement … I urge you to read that document,” he said.

A week after Kathy disappeared, Lindsay said John Heckel found out his wife had cashed a check for $1,500 on the day she went missing. “No follow up, no police record,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay said State Police CPL. Fred Caldwell and John Heckel went through three bank account records for April, May and June, 1991, and there was $4,400 of cash withdrawals John could not explain. “Police didn’t follow-up. Ignored it. Just wanted to look at Loyd Groves. It was like a train on the railroad tracks… and Loyd was in front of the train,” he said.

They also discovered that $40,000 to $60,000 was missing from 1988 to 1991, Lindsay said. “They did a forensic audit. Where’s the audit? Wouldn’t you follow up on that? Wouldn’t you go the bank and just get some records and see?”

The commonwealth had an expert witness talk about digital footprints, Lindsay said.

“It sort of begs the question .. Then why doesn’t she get the records for the commonwealth? Why didn’t they bring them here? We don’t have access to that. Why didn’t they bring that here? They knew full well that we had Mr. Heckel’s statement.”

“They just ignored it … all they wanted to do was focus on Loyd Groves.

“We heard trooper Hutson and Agent Moore talk about the history of this case. They talked about how they went to lead investigator to lead investigator to lead investigator. They wouldn’t file charges until they had the DNA… they needed the DNA results.

“They found a minute speck of blood. How much would they need? Ten to the minus 9 grams,” according to the blood expert.

“They went to great efforts to show that there was no other way that Katherine Heckel’s … speck of blood … got into the back of the van.

“They produced health records from Hammermill … Moore said he got them … said he read them. She had a cut on her left finger, had to be bandaged in the morning … and again in the afternoon because it still wants to bleed. Why wouldn’t you get a better copy of this … two witnesses put her in the back of this van every day.

“I showed them a good document that showed the date … it was June 6 and 7, 1991 that she gets medical attention for her cut index finger.

“I find it distressing that the commonwealth didn’t follow up on this.

“It cost us $5 for a subpoena to get that record … the commonwealth did not spend that money … because it didn’t fit into their idea of the case. It’s the only proof that can show how that blood ended up in the back of that van.

“Why aren’t they seeking to find out what happened instead of ignoring real evidence that shows my client is innocent. I had to cross examine Moore instead of him doing the right thing and telling the truth,” Lindsay said.

Previous prosecutors believed there was reasonable doubt which is why no charges were filed, Lindsay said.

“To that end, because the crux of the case, you’re going to decide my clients guilt or innocence by a speck of blood… We’re here today because of that. All I do know is she had an open wound…it was bleeding in the back of that van,” he said.

“We didn’t ask you to speculate, we gave you evidence. Quite simply, the commonwealth is going to ask you to speculate about a number of things in this case. I asked you not to…that is not the place of a juror to guess. I think it goes without saying that this, for Mr. Groves, is the rest of his life. This is a momentous decision, a grave decision,” he continued.

“Speculation isn’t proof. I believe the timelines alone are not only enough to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Groves is innocent. They’re going to ask you speculate about all of that,” Lindsay said.

“Dennis Taylor should have been treated as a suspect of this case from the beginning… Every time he tells his story it gets worse and worse and worse … in essence shining the spotlight on Mr. Groves,” he stated

“There’s no evidence Mr. Groves fired the gun ever. Period,” he said.

“You take all of those things together … I said each one of those alone are reasonable doubt. It is clearly enough for reasonable doubt. The timeline itself … shows that Loyd could not have done this. It is clear that reasonable doubt exists in this case,” he said.

“I remember a judge in Vermont when I was in law school. He was instructing juries on reasonable doubt. And he would give this example … He would tell the jury ‘Imagine you’re with your kids … you ever cross the street with a child. You don’t hear any cars and you don’t see any headlights. But you put your hands out and look both ways… that is reasonable doubt,” he said.

“I submit to you any of these would cause you to hesitate .. All of this together will cause you to hesitate.

“I ask you – the jury, use your common sense, use the facts … use all the evidence … I want you to use your common sense.

“The burden as the judge said is not on us. We’ve clearly gone above our burden and provided you with evidence. I ask you to go and consider all of this evidence and consider it carefully.

“You will come to conclusion that Loyd Groves is innocent of this crime …. That Loyd Groves did nothing.”