so the detective seemed to be interested in what you could tell him about the marriage? correct. which, she admitted, wasn t much. beth and other close friends said cory didn t really talk about her marriage. so the detective did something no one else had done on this case. he started knocking on doors talking to cory s former neighbors. all the neighbors talked about all the the constant arguing and fighting. so you were getting a picture of what was goin on in that marriage that wasn t in focus in 2006. right. the detective went a step further. he got in his car and drove more than a hundred miles to the university of iowa to talk with someone who would have been an eyewitness to the lovelace marriage. i m adam gibson. nice to meet you. i m a detective with quincy. ok. ok. reporter: lyndsay lovelace, curtis and cory s oldest, was in college, her mom s alma mater, when she was summoned to the campus police department to talk with detective gibson. i was
murder of his wife cory. as if that weren t enough stress, his daughter lyndsay was about to drop a bombshell. coming up a daughter s difficult decision. i don t know what s in lyndsay s head and in her heart. one day she was happy then everything changed. and a mother recounts what she says was curtis bizarre behavior the day her daughter died. i open the door and he hands me larson. and says? oh, and by the way, cory s dead. when dateline continues. these are real people, not actors, who ve got their eczema under control. with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent.
there were no signs of struggle and only the cut and abrasion on her lip. you will fight until you no longer can. the thought that somehow you could suffocate someone with a pillow and there would be only one dental mark is ludicrous. reporter: detective baird testified that when he first arrived on the scene cory s stomach area was still warm. how is that possible, the defense asked, if she had died up to 12 hours earlier? if the body is warm to the touch, my common sense tells me, not science, that this is someone recently deceased. absolutely. is there an error in that assumption? no. reporter: as far as the prosecution s contention that curtis killed cory after a heated argument, the couple s oldest son testified he didn t hear anything like that the night before. and he should know, because his room was right next to his parents. it was even connected by an extra door that was usually left
pillow over her nose and mouth and suffocate her? no. no, i there there were no bad arguments the night before. um, it s it s exactly what what i ve told detective baird in 2006. and what i told detective gibson in 2014, and what i m telling you now. that that is what happened. she was sick and i came home and i found her that morning. and she was dead in bed. reporter: it was clear the detective s strategy hadn t yielded what he wanted, a confession. i have a problem with you not remembering all of these things. reporter: the lawyer s goal of talking his way out of trouble hadn t exactly worked, either. even after he agreed, curtis says, to take a lie detector test. in a short time, he was swapping out his buttoned downed shirt and leather loafers for a very different courthouse look. jail house black and white stripes. coming up so you went in your mom s
myself. and he would just hide in the basement and blame it on work. she says their mutual silence separated them. then, resentment exploded in loud confrontations. it just wasn t working. i believe, looking back, that was a rebound relationship. and a relationship that i i should ve not done, not only for me, but more importantly, for my children. reporter: in 2013, after five years of marriage, curtis filed for divorce. now, you might think that he would have been gun-shy about jumping into love again, but not curtis. it was just surreal and lovely. reporter: this is christine. she d known curtis since high school. he even took her to their homecoming dance. marriages and careers separated them, for a time. it was odd because i wasn t prepared for any kind of a relationship and i wasn t looking for anything like that. and where were you in your life christine were you single?