Truthful Politics

September 29, 2009 was the first day at Wake County Courthouse for the murder trial of Robert Reaves. It is alleged that Robert Reaves murdered Latrese Curtis by stabbing her 36 times (according to the medical examiner's report) and leaving her body alongside Interstate 540 in Raleigh, near the Louisburg Exit.

This case is one where a score card is needed as there are threads of connections throughout.

Darin Curtis was her husband and he attended NC State while also working a part-time job.

Steven Randolph was Latrese's friend and lover who attended NC Central. He lived with the accused Robert Reaves in a basement apartment of Reaves' house. Also living in the house was Reaves' sister Wilma Mae Thorpe aka Poochie (spelling unknown as of this writing). Wilma, according to Wake County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Lindow's opening statement, will testify that her brother did not go to church that evening like he stated.

Velma (last name unknown as of this writing) is a friend of Steven Randolph and supposedly had minor run-ins with Robert Reaves. According to the opening statement made by Ms. Lindow, Velma received threatening phone calls and phone records show that Robert Reaves had made a call to Velma's number. Velma also had her tires slashed but they did not state that Robert Reaves was found to have done this.

Kimberly Parker a friend of Latrese Curtis received a call at 2 a.m. from Latrese. Latrese did not speak but Kimberly could hear the sounds of someone walking on what sounded like gravel and cars passing by.

Testimony given by Darin Curtis explains the day before when he last saw Latrese. He awoke at 6:30 a.m., Latrese left for school around 7:15 a.m. and he left for work about 10 minutes after that. He talked to Latrese later that day around 5:00 p.m. and he told her he had a Beta Alpha Phi meeting at 7:00, and she said she was going to go to the library. Darin left the meeting when it let out at 8:30 p.m. to go home. He again talked to Latrese at 10 p.m. when she said she was going to leave the library, grab a bite to eat and then head home. Mr. Curtis went to bed around 11:30 p.m.

The next morning at 6:30 a.m. he awoke to find that Latrese was not home. He called her cell phone but got her voice mail and did not leave a message. He did not think anything was wrong, he thought maybe Latrese went to her parents to eat and she spent the night there. On his way to work he took I-540 passing the crime scene. As he was passing and noticed the tarp, thoughts came to the back of his mind regarding Latrese. He then went back home where he made more phone calls looking for Latrese. He went online to AT&T's site to look up Latrese's call history. He found one number that was called a lot that evening so he tried the number and asked how that person knew Latrese. The man on the other end kept asking if Latrese was okay and Darin Curtis hung up the phone. Turns out that man was Steven Randolph.

When the defending attorney cross-examined Darin Curtis he asked, how long does it take to get home from Central? Darin estimated it to be 45 - 60 minutes. He asked Darin what time he went to bed, with Darin replying 11:30. The attorney then asked what time Mr. Curtis got up the next morning and Darin answered 6:30. Defense asked if Darin had seen his wife's car on the news and he stated he did not. Darin said he was on the scene at 7:45 a.m. when asked by the defense what time he initially arrived at the scene. Darin also responded to questioning that he went back home and then went back to the scene after making phone calls. He was asked by the defense if he went to GEICO.com at 8:58 a.m. to check on the car insurance of Latrese and Mr. Curtis denied this. He also was asked if he checked Latrese's voice mail and he denied that allegation. He also said he had no knowledge of Latrese's affair until it came about during the investigation.

Frank David a detective with Wake County Sheriff's Department for 14 years testified that he interviewed Mr. Darin Curtis that day and pictures were taken of Darin's head, torso, top and bottom of hands and there were no injuries to him. The pictures used during this testimony were State's Evidence 12-15.

Lunch break until 2 p.m. was called.