Groves Hearing Underway in Heckel Murder Case
Prosecutors are presenting evidence against Loyd Groves, 65, of Beaver, Beaver County. He was arrested in late January, accused of killing Katherine “Kathy” Dolan Heckel of Lock Haven in 1991.
Some 15 members of the Heckel family were in attendance today as the case against Groves began, District Judge Frank Mills presiding in the large courtroom of the courthouse. Groves looked at the seated family members as he was ushered into the courtroom but showed no emotion.
It is expected the hearing will continue into Wednesday before Mills determines if there is sufficient evidence to continue the case into common pleas court.
First witness today was now retired state police criminal investigator Fredrick Caldwell. He told of the interview process with Groves that began July 16, 1991, a day after Heckel disappeared from her workplace, the former International Paper plant in Lock Haven. Groves was a coworker there.
Caldwell corroborated an earlier grand jury finding that in the hours and days following Heckel’s disappearance, Groves exhibited anxiety and paranoia, interrogating coworkers about whether the police were asking about him.
Carol Smith, a Heckel coworker in the human resources department at the paper mill, testified she was aware that Heckel and Groves were having an affair and became worried when her office coworker did not return from lunch on the day of her disappearance. She said Groves had drastically changed his demeanor when she saw him at work after she had last seen Mrs.Heckel.
The case is being prosecuted in Clinton County by Deputy Attorney General Clarke Madden of the Office of Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Section. George Lepley of Williamsport and David Lindsay of Lock Haven were representing Groves in court today.
Local state police had returned Groves to Clinton County in late January following his arrest; he has been in the Clinton County Correctional Facility since that time with no bail set on the homicide charges.
