Prosecution Presents Case in Groves Murder Trial

LOCK HAVEN – The prosecution on Wednesday continued to present its case that Loyd Groves, 69, is responsible for the 1991 killing of Katherine “Kathy” Dolan Heckel.

The trial, in its third day, comes after 27 years that Heckel was last seen after taking a lunch break at the former papermill in Lock Haven. The Groves trial is to continue into next week after a Thursday/Friday Thanksgiving break. The high profile trial in the large courtroom of the Clinton County Court House is underway after several years of delays, a grand jury indictment and no body found.

Witnesses Tuesday were former mill co-workers of Groves and Heckel. Chief among them was Dennis Taylor; he acknowledged an affair with Heckel at the time of her disappearance in the summer of 1991. Taylor told the court that the victim told him she wanted out of an on-going relationship with Groves.

On the day of her disappearance, Taylor testified, he had a late morning phone conversation with Heckel, stating she had called and sounded “upset and frightened,” and saying that Groves wanted to take her to lunch. He said it was his last conversation with her.

Lycoming County Senior Judge Kenneth Brown is presiding in the case. The jury consists of six men and six women, with two male and two female alternates.

The prosecution is alleging that it was Groves who killed Heckel between the hours of 12 noon and 3 p.m. on July 15, 1991. Defense counsel is arguing there was a second suspect in the case, also involved in an affair with the deceased and the prosecution pursued Groves, rather than finding out what happened to the victim.