Mildred Darrington rarely missed her standing Friday appointment in Elgin with hairdresser Sylvia Poloway.
If anything the punctual Darrington, affectionately known as “Dodie,” usually showed up early to “chit chat” or share a book or some food, Poloway recalled of her client-turned-friend of at least a decade.
That’s what made the morning of July 18, 2014, so unusual for Poloway. When the clock reached 9:10 a.m. with no sign of Darrington, Poloway became concerned. She tried calling the 85-year-old Darrington, but got no response. Using a home address she found on a card from Darrington, Poloway drove to East Dundee and pulled into the driveway where she noticed the newspaper still sitting outside.
“I had a strange feeling something was really off,” Poloway said, adding she shouted through a window, “Dodie, I’m coming in. I’m really worried.”
Minutes later, Poloway discovered 85-year-old Darrington in her bed with a pink blanket pulled up to her forehead and an uncased pillow further covering her head. Darrington was dead, suffering from a two-inch deep stab wound to the left side of her neck which pierced her jugular.
Poloway opened testimony Tuesday afternoon as the first witness for prosecutors in the trial of Richard Schmelzer, who has pleaded not guilty to Darrington’s murder. Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Engerman outlined the case against Schmelzer by saying financial motives led him to take a “cross country trip to kill his grandmother.” Schmelzer’s attorney, Joshua Dieden, countered by calling the state’s case “circumstantial” and failing to answer who killed Darrington.
“The state is going to ask you to do their work for them and fill in a lot of holes,” Dieden said. “The death of an 85-year-old woman is a horrible tragedy, but you have to remain focused. We believe you can give Rich a fair trial. Rich is here fighting for his life.
“There will be no direct evidence linking Rich to this crime,” Dieden added in his opening remarks to the jury.
More Top Picks Best Noise Canceling Headphones For Students
To preview the state’s case, Engerman told jurors how Schmelzer — a high school athletic trainer who also ran a side business as a personal trainer — and his wife made a good living to support their family and life in Texas. But, Schmelzer burned through tens of thousands of dollars on two female escorts between December 2013 and middle of 2014 as part of worsening money problems, which included several years of failing to make mortgage payments.
“This defendant needed more cash,” Engerman told jurors during his opening statement, mentioning how Schmelzer took $22,050 in cash advances on a Darrington credit card before “the gravy train stopped.”
Schmelzer devised a plan to get his share of Darrington’s approximately $800,000 estate, Engerman explained. It involved a road trip from Texas to Illinois with a disposable cell phone, a prepaid American Express card with $260 on it and a Ford Focus rented by his cousin — all of which left a digital trail along the route that included stops for gas in Oklahoma and a drive-thru meal in Downstate Collinsville. That path also shows the Focus committing an early morning toll violation on Interstate 355 and a trip to a gas station in Sleepy Hollow, three miles from Darrington’s home about four hours before she was discovered by Poloway, Engerman explained.
“You put all those dots together and you see where he went,” Engerman offered. “That phone … it didn’t stay in Frisco, Texas … it moved to East Dundee, Illinois.”
Schmelzer also played something of a shell game by giving various stories to various people to explain his whereabouts during the trip to Illinois, Engerman said. The one tale which piqued the interest of investigators was Schmelzer’s claim he had dinner — with a receipt to prove it — at a restaurant near his home in Texas the night before Darrington’s death. However, police learned Schmelzer was a regular at the establishment and had asked a manager there to generate a receipt to make it appear he dined there on July 17, 2014.
Testimony in the trial, which is expected to last a least two weeks, continues Wednesday.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.