This December 2018 photo provided by LeAnn McCrabb shows Annette Cahill, 56, at her home in Tipton, Iowa. Cahill is scheduled to stand trial on Monday, March 4 for first-degree murder in the 1992 beating death of her former boyfriend, Corey Wieneke. Cahill, a grandmother who works at the Police Law Institute, is expected to make for an unusual defendant. The case may hinge on whether jurors believe a woman who says she was 9 when she overheard Cahill confess to killing bartender Corey Wieneke weeks after the slaying. (Courtesy of LeAnn McCrabb via AP)
March 07, 2019 - 12:23 PM
MUSCATINE, Iowa - A woman whose fiance was beaten to death 25 years ago says she knew he was having affairs with other women, but that she loved him anyway.
Jody Willier testified Wednesday that her fiance, Corey Wieneke, was lighthearted and "a lot of fun to be around."
"I ignored a lot of that, and internalized a lot of that myself," she said of Wieneke's affairs, The Muscatine Journal reported.
One of the women Wieneke was involved with, Annette Cahill, is charged with first-degree murder in his October 1992 death. With no physical evidence tying her to the killing, the trial may hinge on whether jurors believe a 36-year-old woman who told an agent two years ago that in 1992, when she was 9 years old and visiting a childhood friend who is Cahill's niece, she heard Cahill make incriminating statements about killing Wieneke.
The woman's mother is expected to testify that her daughter told her about the confession then.
On Wednesday, witness Wendi Chamberlin testified that she and Cahill were among the women who had been romantically involved with Wieneke. Chamberlin said Cahill and Wieneke argued over his relationships and his engagement the night before he was found dead in his West Liberty home.
The jury also heard a recording of the 911 call Willier made on Oct. 13, 1992, after she discovered Wieneke's bloody body. Investigators later recovered a baseball bat from a nearby road that they believe was used to kill Wieneke, ut they did not find Cahill's DNA or fingerprints on the bat or anywhere at the scene that might have implicated her.
Cahill's lawyers are expected to cast the claims of the woman who says Cahill confessed as tainted by animosity. Cahill had an affair in 1991 with the girl's stepfather, which contributed to the end of her parents' marriage, they say. A childhood memory expert hired by the defence has called the testimony "extremely questionable."
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Information from: Muscatine Journal, http://www.muscatinejournal.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2019