‘He carved her up like a piece of meat,’ prosecutor says in Aurora murder trial
A bloody footprint is among evidence that will prove an Aurora man guilty of murdering his 16-year-old stepdaughter, prosecutors said in opening statements Tuesday.
Laurence Lovejoy, 44, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 27, 2004, death of Erin “EJ” Justice. DuPage County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if he is convicted.
State’s Attorney Robert Berlin told jurors Justice was drugged, beaten, stabbed and eventually drowned in the bathtub at her mother’s Aurora townhouse, about three weeks after she accused Lovejoy of sexually assaulting her in Naperville. Berlin said investigators later recovered a partial footprint matching Lovejoy in Justice’s blood on a bathroom floor tile at the crime scene.
“He carved her up like a piece of meat,” Berlin said. “He stabbed her, he slit her throat in two areas, he slit her wrist, and he beat her with a blunt instrument over the head.”
A jury convicted Lovejoy and sentenced him to death in 2006, but the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial after the defendant argued he was unable to call a last-minute witness to refute testimony about the footprint evidence.
Other than the print, which the defense is expected to challenge, prosecutors lack evidence directly linking Lovejoy to the killing, Assistant Public Defender Mark Lyon said.
“There is no eyewitness in this case, there is no murder weapon in this case, and there is no confession in this case,” he told jurors in opening statements.
Berlin said Lovejoy sexually assaulted Justice on March 3, 2004. Justice immediately went to police, who started sexual assault tests but allowed Lovejoy to remain free while the results were pending. In the meantime, Lovejoy agreed to live elsewhere.
By the time the results came back, confirming Lovejoy’s DNA on Justice’s cheek and chest, the Waubonsie High School track standout was already dead.
Lovejoy’s retrial is expected to last several weeks.