Ex-prosecutor accused in wife's death court-bound

QUINCY - A former western Illinois prosecutor and University of Illinois football standout accused of killing his first wife on Valentine's Day eight years ago is scheduled to be arraigned.

Curtis Lovelace, 45, was to appear Friday morning in Adams County Circuit Court on a first-degree murder count related to the alleged 2006 suffocation of 38-year-old Cory Lovelace.

At the time of Cory Lovelace's death, a coroner's jury and autopsy ruled the cause undetermined. But Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley says 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.

A grand jury last month indicted Lovelace, and he's been jailed since on $5 million bond.

Lovelace, now in private practice, served as an Adams County assistant state's attorney.

While playing for the Illini between 1986 and 1990, Lovelace was chosen team captain and was the starting center on the All-Big Ten team during his junior and senior years.