Pathologist's testimony missing in murder trial

CARBONDALE -- Federal prosecutors are uncertain how they'll proceed with a trial involving the 2005 death of a southern Illinois woman because the pathologist who performed the autopsy and toxicological tests has reportedly fled the United States, officials said.

Dr. John A. Heidingsfelder of Evansville, Ind., who also worked in southern Illinois, performed an autopsy and conducted other tests on Jennifer Curry, who was found dead in 2005 in West Frankfort.

The forensic and clinical pathologist was expected to testify in the trial of Jennifer Krieger, a West Frankfort woman charged with giving Curry a gel patch containing a synthetic opiate 100 times more powerful than morphine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Leggans said the government is researching its options.

Without Heidingsfelder's testimony there is no support for an official cause of death for Curry, Leggans said. According to court documents in the Krieger case, "Dr. Heidingsfelder has since fled the country to avoid various unrelated legal problems."

Leggans said Heidingsfelder allegedly fled two years ago.

Two telephone listings for John A. Heidingsfelder in Evansville, Ind. were disconnected. A listing in Illinois could not be located Monday.

For about 18 years, Heidingsfelder worked out of the Evansville coroner's office on a contractual basis.

Evansville coroner Donald L. Erk Sr. said he had contracted autopsies to Heidingsfelder. Erk said two years ago, Heidingsfelder told him he was leaving minutes before he was going to catch a plane.

Erk claimed that Heidingsfelder had tax problems for more than two decades.