Attorneys in the Richard Schmelzer murder case sparred one last time Monday in closing arguments which left jurors to decide whether the Texas man carefully plotted the 2014 killing of his grandmother in East Dundee or if police botched their investigation by focusing on Schmelzer.
On Tuesday, the trial’s 12th day, the jury will begin their work to sort out two week’s worth of information surrounding the murder of 85-year-old Mildred “Dodie” Darrington inside her home. Darrington suffered a fatal stab wound to her neck which hit her jugular vein and struck her spinal cord. Darrington’s body was found in her bed with a pillow covering her face. Police found no forced entry to the home. At least $2,500 in cash and other valuables were untouched, leading authorities to rule out robbery, according to prosecutors.
Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Schmidt told jurors how Darrington went to bed on July 17, 2014, with plans for her usual hair appointment the next morning, as well as a visit from her housekeeper. Meanwhile, some 900 miles away in Texas, Schmelzer spent that Thursday on a 14-hour drive to Illinois to kill Darrington in order to claim his portion of her estate, Schmidt said. That money would allow him to continue a lavish lifestyle that had gutted his family bank accounts after Darrington discontinued giving Schmelzer access to her credit card for cash advances, Schmidt said.
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“He came there in the middle of the night and left her home before the sun came up,” Schmidt said. “He was on a tactical mission … with one purpose, to kill Dodie.”
Schmidt and Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Engerman methodically summarized how Schmelzer bought a phone he thought couldn’t be traced, loaded up an American Express gift card in order to avoid going into gas stations and asked a relative to rent a car for him while lying about his intended destination. Schmidt stressed the differences between what Schmelzer told police compared to his actions — documented in various ways — which contradicted him.
In one example, Schmelzer described a business dinner the night of July 17 at the Capitol Grille, a steakhouse he frequented regularly near his Frisco, Texas, home. However, the pre-paid American Express card was used to buy gas in Oklahoma before that supposed meal and again at a Downstate McDonald’s around the time Schmelzer said he got home. Schmelzer’s receipt proved to be a key point in the investigation, as he offered it up to police during an interview only to have it debunked by employees who testified Schmelzer didn’t dine at the restaurant on July 17.
“Lie after lie after lie was uncovered,” Schmidt said of the investigation. “Every time they fact-checked (Schmelzer’s alibi), they turned up another lie.”
Schmelzer’s attorney, Joshua Dieden, attacked the prosecution’s case on several points under the umbrella of a flawed investigation which targeted his client as part of a “rush to judgment.” Dieden dismissed the notion Schmelzer’s spending habits on prostitutes and alleged financial struggles didn’t give him motive to kill his beloved grandmother. Dieden said Schmelzer even called Darrington a couple days before she died to say he’d be coming to visit her later in the week, which prompted Dieden to quip murderers don’t announce their plans in advance.
“She doted on him and he adored her,” Dieden told jurors. “They want to convict Rich … on his lifestyle and his lies. Rich has no motive … it makes no sense he would kill her.”
Dieden suggested prosecutors offered a flawed circumstantial case which, among other things, didn’t pinpoint when Darrington died, failed to do DNA testing on key pieces of evidence and generally relied on “incomplete” and “sloppy” police work.
He criticized police for not going far enough in their forensic investigation at the murder scene inside Darrington’s home, choosing instead to “test a seat belt strap on a rental car in Texas.”
“From the very start, they focused on Rich and Rich alone,” Dieden said. “(Prosecutors) don’t want you to consider options because it doesn’t fit their theory. This case could have been really simple if they had done their jobs.”
Engerman countered sharply in his rebuttal by calling Schmelzer’s attack on Darrington an “assassination.” He also attacked Dieden’s idea that Schmelzer would pay a late-night visit to his elderly grandmother on a secret trip where he didn’t use cash or his own vehicle. Engerman asked jurors to consider closely the totality of motive evidence and how Schmelzer’s own actions drew police to him as much as anything else.
“(Police) didn’t have to look very far. He opened his mouth and the evidence came out,” Engerman said. “This is no coincidence. This is the execution of a plan to kill his grandmother.”
Engerman drove home his point one final time when he asked jurors to consider why the American Express card would be used fill up the rental car in West Dundee around 3 a.m. the morning Darrington was found dead.
“One inescapable conclusion is that he killed his grandmother,” Engerman said.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.