Jury left to mull journal passage
DIXON, Ill. — Fifteen people will have three days to think about what they have heard in a Lee County courtroom about the death of Adrianne Reynolds and the other teenager accused of killing her.
The last thing the 12 jurors and three alternates heard before court was dismissed Friday for a long Lincoln’s Birthday weekend was an entry in Sarah Kolb’s school journal in which the 17-year-old wrote that she would kill Reynolds. During her first trial in Rock Island County, the Milan, Ill., teen said she was angry at Reynolds when she wrote the threat, but said it was her co-defendant, Cory Gregory, 18, of Moline, who killed Reynolds, 16, of East Moline, in January 2005.
The retrial was moved to Lee County, 75 miles northeast of the Quad-Cities, because of the extensive media coverage the case has received.
During the first three days of testimony in what is likely to be a two-week trial, 24 witnesses testified for the state. Many of them portrayed Kolb as jealous of Reynolds and angry at her for having sex with boys. Much of the testimony also centered on the condition of the victim’s remains, which were cut into pieces and hidden at two locations.
Nathan Gaudet, 17, of Moline, already has pleaded guilty to concealing the Reynolds homicide and is scheduled to take the witness stand Wednesday. During the first trial, which ended with a Rock Island County jury deadlocking 11-1 in favor of a conviction, Gaudet testified that Kolb and Gregory told him they both had killed Reynolds.
The testimony to date has portrayed Kolb as a leader in her circle of friends and classmates from the Black Hawk Outreach Center in East Moline who was “testing” Reynolds to see whether she would be loyal if the two began an intimate relationship.
The testimony suggests Reynolds failed the test, outraging Kolb, who routinely referred to the girl as “a slut.”
One witness, a co-worker of Kolb’s from Showcase Cinema 53 in Davenport, said the defendant told her she had “strangled” and “choked” a girl in her car the day Reynolds disappeared.
The same witness, Tamsen Lecina, and another witness testified during the first trial that Kolb told them she also “knocked her teeth out.” But a pathologist testified that Reynolds’ teeth were intact at the time of her autopsy.
Following Lecina’s testimony, Kolb displayed some emotion for the first time since her arrest, crying as her attorney, Rock Island County Public Defender David Hoffman, consoled her.
The second trial has produced new courtroom strategies for both the prosecutors and Hoffman.
One issue Rock Island County State’s Attorney Jeff Terronez brought to the jury’s attention through his questioning was the access Kolb had to police when Gregory was not with her. Kolb testified at her first trial that she never had an opportunity to tell anyone Gregory had killed Reynolds because he had threatened to kill her, too, and kept close to her in the days after the slaying.
But Lecina contradicted Kolb’s testimony that Gregory was present at Showcase Cinema 53 when Kolb was interviewed over the telephone by East Moline police the day after the murder. The witness also said Kolb mentioned to at least one Scott County sheriff’s deputy who was providing security at the movie theater complex that she had been interviewed by police in Illinois about the Reynolds disappearance.
Gregory, she said, was not present when Kolb spoke in person to the deputy.
Another classmate took the stand Friday and said Kolb talked of her plans for Reynolds just before leaving school to have lunch the day of the killing.
Lisa Rubalcava, 17, described a set-up by Kolb to pretend she was making amends with Reynolds while planning instead to “beat her up” and send her to “an early grave.” She said Kolb’s plan included an isolated location such as a park or farm.
Attorneys on both sides were asked Friday whether it is probable Gregory will testify, and both said it is unlikely his attorney would allow it.
Throughout the day, the fourth-floor courtroom had only one or two available seats. Many of those watching the trial were interested spectators from Lee County. But one woman said she traveled from the Quad-Cities to support Reynolds’ family.
“I don’t even know her,” said Joann Reynolds, the victim’s stepmother. “These other people who are just here to watch, that bothers me. It’s insulting to me somehow.”
Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.