Trial in murder of teacher set for January

The Bloomington woman accused of fatally stabbing a Palatine Township Elementary District 15 teacher in 2005 will stand trial in January, a judge ruled Monday.

The start date is Jan. 7.

Defense attorneys for 50-year-old Diana Thames tried unsuccessfully Monday to get that date pushed back, but an irked Cook County Judge John Scotillo said it's only fair to Thames and all others involved that it move forward.

Thames has been in prison since August 2005. She's accused of stabbing longtime friend Cindy Wolosick, 46, about 20 times in the head, neck and chest with a kitchen knife after an argument over the finances of their jointly owned home-rehab business.

Wolosick, a teacher at Lake Louise School in Palatine, was found dead in her bed in her Palatine condominium.

Officials say Thames, a friend of 25 years who had just returned from a Mexico vacation with Wolosick, had spent the night there.

Thames later made a taped statement to police, but the bulk of that has been barred from court by Scotillo, who -- in a notable summer ruling -- tossed out all segments that came after Thames, fairly early in that questioning, invoked her right to a lawyer.