Prosecutors argue finances may have brought on killing

Prosecutors on Wednesday tried to demonstrate that the home rehab business owned by Cindy Wolosick and her friend Diana Thames was in dire financial straits.

In the fifth day of Thames' murder trial, an investor in the business testified he was having trouble getting the $32,000 owed to him in July 2005, the month before Wolosick was found fatally stabbed in her Palatine condominium.

Peter Alfieri, a friend of Wolosick's since the late 1980s, had invested $250,000 by summer 2005.

The Cary attorney met with Wolosick, 46, once or twice a year for the check exchanges, and it wasn't unusual for him to get the money a few days past due, he said.

But this time, Alfieri said, it was one excuse after the next why they couldn't meet.

Alfieri said Wolosick told him Thames -- who handled the checks -- was with an ill out-of-state relative and couldn't be reached. Soon after he was told by Wolosick that the check was signed and in the mail, but it never came.

Alfieri said he felt he was getting the "runaround."

"To say I'm concerned about the situation is an understatement," Alfieri said in a message on Wolosick's answering machine.

Prosecutors said Wolosick and Thames, who had just come back from a Mexico vacation with other friends, had argued over financial issues relating to their business.

Thames' attorneys tried to discredit Alfieri, bringing up two domestic violence-related arrests. They also asked him about his training as a pro wrestler and his nickname, The Executioner.

In other testimony, Derek Menard said Wolosick, his girlfriend of a year, told him she was going to confront Thames about the finances.

In what's become a recurring theme, defense attorneys said work by the Palatine police was less than thorough.

Alfieri was never fingerprinted, asked for a DNA sample or questioned about his criminal record.

Defense attorney Douglas Johnson questioned two Palatine detectives about inconsistencies between their reports and testimony from past witnesses.

After the state rested, defense attorney Kathleen Zellner moved for dismissal, citing a "complete absence of physical evidence."

Cook County Judge John Scotillo denied the defense's motion, saying the state had met its burden of proof.

The trial resumes at 11 a.m. today.