News Local/State

Former U of I Athlete Accused Of Murder Seeks New Defense

By Tiffany Jolley, with Additional Reporting by The Associated Press
 

Former prosecutor and 1980's University of Illinois football star Curtis Lovelace made his first appearance in an Adams County court Friday.

The 45-year old Lovelace is being charged with the first-degree murder in the suffocation of his first wife, Cory Lovelace, back in 2006. 

A judge has granted a three week extension for Lovelace to seek funds for private counsel.  Lovelace served as a former assistant state’s attorney in Adams County, and has been moved to the Hancock County Jail to be isolated from the general population for his safety.

A grand jury indicted Lovelace last month and he remains jailed on $5-million bond.

At the time of Cory Lovelace's death, a coroner's jury and autopsy ruled the cause undetermined.

But Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley said a detective late last year gave the case file a fresh look, and two pathologists who reviewed it concluded the mother of four died of foul play.

Lovelace is a 1994 U of I Law School graduate.