Friend testifies in Villa Park murder trial

Jim Scumasi described his best friend Friday as a caring father, loving grandfather and successful businessman.

He told DuPage County jurors that Michael Lentz Sr. announced plans to buy a house in Florida for his eldest daughter Christy and his granddaughter months before he was found dead in his Villa Park machine shop. Scumasi said he never saw his longtime pal fight with the daughter now on trial for his 2006 murder.

"Generally, I thought they got along very well," Scumasi said during the second day of Christy Lentz's trial. "I saw them argue sometimes, but nothing outrageous."

The 35-year-old Glen Ellyn woman's defense attorney is mounting a self-defense strategy to prove his client's innocence of the murder of her father, claiming the man was a "violent alcoholic" who beat his wife and daughter for years.

However, that's not the image painted by Scumasi and other family members Friday. Prosecutors Alex McGimpsey and Ann Celine O'Hallaren suggested during questioning of witnesses that Christy Lentz never showed any fear of her father because she allowed him around her young daughter often.

Scumasi told jurors that Michael Lentz Sr. initially intended to leave his business to Christy Lentz and retire to Florida, but later decided to sell the business.

"He didn't think she could handle it," Scumasi said.

Christy Lentz told DuPage County Sheriff's detectives that her father was shot during a fight over a tax bill at the Villa Park shop. She said she was struck by him five or six times during the fight and her father then drew a gun on her.

Prosecutors said the evidence shows the father was shot twice in the back of the head while seated at his office desk.

Prosecutors said Christy Lentz attempted to cover up the crime by stuffing her father's body in a trash can and setting it on fire. They said the woman quickly decided against burning the body and extinguished the fire. She instead wrapped the can in several layers of tarp, stored in the back of the warehouse at the shop, stuck air fresheners throughout the shop to cover the decomposition smell, hid other evidence of the murder and closed the shop while claiming she had no idea where her father was, prosecutors said.

For weeks she misled family, friends and authorities who were searching for the man in several states.

DuPage County Deputy Sheriff Brian Barkalow also testified Friday how investigators finally located Michael Lentz's remains. He described smelling rotting flesh from outside the back of the machine shop and eventually finding the tarp-wrapped garbage can in the back of the warehouse. Barkalow was the last witness of the day. The trial resumes Monday afternoon and is expected to take two weeks.