Heckel Murder Case: Conference Held; Trial Date Set

LOCK HAVEN—The oft-delayed trial in a 27-year-old Clinton County murder case is back on the court docket.

A status conference with attorneys was held last Friday in the case of Loyd Groves, 68, accused of killing Katherine “Kathy” Dolan Heckel of Lock Haven in 1991. The court schedule now lists June 18 as the date to begin jury selection, the Groves trial to begin a week later on June 25.

The trial has been on-again-off-again in recent years, most recently due to health issues on the part of the defendant. Groves had been arrested in January of 2015 following a statewide investigating grand jury report based on a renewed probe conducted by state troopers Curtis Confer and Michael Hutson and FBI special agent Kyle Moore.

Their work led to the grand jury findings which determined sufficient evidence existed to charge Groves with Heckel’s murder.

Groves had moved from the area to western Pennsylvania following Heckel’s disappearance. Heckel and Groves had been coworkers at the paper mill in Lock Haven at the time.

Those present at last week’s status conference included Groves’ counsel, David Lindsay and George Lepley and the prosecutor, senior deputy state attorney general Daniel Dye. Senior Lycoming County Judge Kenneth Brown is hearing the case.

Court administrator Donald Powers said as part of the pre-trial process, a motions hearing is to be scheduled for March or April. Groves has been held at the Clinton County Correctional Facility without bail since his 2015 arrest.