Remaining composed throughout about an hour of emotional testimony, Jeffrey Blum on Thursday described in detail the night his 19-year-old son, Jacob Blum, was fatally stabbed in the Waukegan motel room in which they were staying.
His words highlighted the third day of the testimony in the trial of Kevin Curtis, 29, charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of Jacob Blum, formerly of Lake Villa, who died from a stab wound to the chest, according to authorities.
Jeffrey Blum, his youngest son, Jacob, and middle son, Kevin, were staying at a Red Roof Inn on Belvidere Road the night of July 16, 2013, following a day of working as mobile salesmen in Lake County for the Windy City Meats facility in Gurnee.
Under questioning by Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Kleinhubert, Jeffrey Blum said that after a long day of work, he returned to his motel room at about 10:30 p.m. to find Jacob and Kevin in the room, as well as a co-worker, Kevin Curtis.
He said shortly after he arrived, Kevin Blum left the room to make a phone call, Jacob was lying on one bed watching a movie and Curtis was sitting on the other bed “cleaning his (finger) nails with a knife.”
Blum said he went into the bathroom to clean up and shave, leaving the door open, when he heard Jacob scream, “What the (expletive), Kevin!”
“I heard Jacob screaming,” Blum said, stating that he immediately left the bathroom to find Jacob rushing toward him “with blood gushing out of his chest.”
Blum said he directed Jacob to the door and told him to get to the motel lobby because he was bleeding badly, and then saw Curtis coming toward him with a bloody knife.
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“In my opinion, he was coming for me next,” Blum testified, saying he then grabbed Curtis by the wrist, removed the knife from his hand and dragged him down to the floor, holding him by the arm so that he couldn’t leave.
He said after about five minutes, Kevin Blum returned to the room and tackled Curtis off of his father. Blum added that he grabbed the knife and a scissors on a nearby table to clear the room of weapons and headed out of the room and toward the lobby.
Blum said he was met by Waukegan police officers who told him to “drop the weapons,” and that he then put the knife and scissors on a chair in the lobby and was allowed to go to his wounded son.
He said he saw Jacob lying in a small dining area near the lobby with motel employees, and that paramedics had just arrived.
“There was blood everywhere in the dining area,” Blum said. He said his son was lying on the floor, and at one point tried to sit up, causing blood to pour from his chest.
“He said ‘I’m not going to make it,'” Blum said. “I told him, ‘Let these (paramedics) work on you — these are the ones who are going to save you.'”
But Blum said that after his son had briefly tried to sit up, he was losing color and turning gray. “He was on his last legs.”
Blum said emergency workers put Jacob on a gurney to transport him to the hospital. He added that he never saw his son alive again.
Prosecutors said Jacob Blum, after losing a lot of blood and suffering a collapsed lung from the stab wound, went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance and was pronounced dead at Vista West Medical Center in Waukegan.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors and police said Kevin Curtis and Kevin Blum were removed from the room by police and handcuffed after the stabbing. Curtis was treated for a cut to his hand and then taken into police custody.
Kevin Blum and Jeffrey Blum were taken to the police department where they made statements before Jeffrey Blum was notified that Jacob had died. Blum testified he was “frantic, extremely concerned that my son was not going to make it” while providing a written statement.
Kleinhubert asked Blum how he felt when he was told Jacob had died.
“I broke down,” he said, adding that he then had to tell Kevin Blum that his brother had died.
Blum was asked whether he could identify Curtis in court. He pointed to Curtis sitting at the defense table with his attorneys and described the shirt he was wearing.
During further questioning, Blum was asked whether Curtis said anything when the two were struggling in the hotel room after Jacob had left. Blum replied that Curtis “was concerned” about the police coming “and said he had nothing else to live for.”
Blum testified that when previously asked by their employer to help Curtis, he and his sons had sometimes allowed Curtis to stay with them at prior hotels, but that it was made clear to Curtis he could not stay overnight with them at the Red Roof Inn.
During cross examination by defense attorney Kevin Malia, Blum was asked if he remembered telling a detective that Curtis had stayed with them at the Red Roof Inn on previous evenings. Blum responded that he did not recall that.
Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Turk said in opening statements Tuesday that Jacob and Kevin Blum had told Curtis he could come up to the room to use the phone and try to make arrangements for the night, but could not stay there with them.
Turk also said in his opening statements that witnesses had heard Jacob Blum say after he was stabbed that he was attacked by Curtis.
Blum testified that he and his sons were staying in motels to be closer to work while they searched for a new permanent residence. He said he and his children’s mother had previously divorced and he had left her Lake Villa home. For a while, he said, Jacob and Kevin Blum had lived with him in a small apartment in Volo before the three decided to stay in motels as they sought a new residence closer to work.
Malia said in his opening statements that “Kevin Curtis is absolutely innocent of these charges,” and that the case against Curtis is “based on speculation and assumptions.”
Attorneys said they expect to trial to conclude Friday after the defense presents its case and closing arguments are made.
Officials said that if convicted by the jury, Curtis faces a mandatory sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison.
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