Police, witnesses testify during second day of Dowagiac murder trial

Published 6:56 pm Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Although it is still unclear just what caused the relationship between Terry and Laura Stineback to break down to the point that the husband and father chose to shoot his wife to death, county prosecutors presented new facts Wednesday that provided insight into what happened that fatal spring night.

Terry Ray Stineback

Terry Ray Stineback

Jurors were given a clearer picture of the events that unfolded the day Stineback shot and killed his wife during the second day of the Dowagiac man’s trial in Cass County Court.

Assistant Prosecutor Tiffiny Vohwinkle continued the people’s case against Stineback, 44, who is accused of murder, assault with intent to murder and felony firearms. Vohwinkle called witnesses to the stand to provide testimony about the events that unfolded May 12, 2015, the day that Laura was killed in their home on Flanders Street in Wayne Township.

Throughout the day, officers and detectives with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office were called to the stand to discuss their findings from the night of the murder as well as their subsequent investigation into the case.

Among those testifying to the court was Sgt. Philip Esarey, who was one of the officers who responded to a dispatch about the murder, a crime that Stineback reported himself to Cass County Central Dispatch.

Esarey, who arrived after several other deputies had made it to the scene, first secured the couple’s 9-year-old daughter, who was present inside the home during the shooting.

The officer took the girl to his squad car, where he noticed she was shaken up by what had happened, he said. After that, he gave instructions to Stineback to come out of the house so they could take him into custody, Esarey said.

After he and other officers secured the property and the scene of the crime, Esarey returned to the girl, where he asked her to recount what she saw leading up to the shooting, he said.

Esarey said the girl told him she had heard her mom and dad fighting downstairs in the kitchen, and when she went down to investigate she saw her father on top of her mother, appearing to strangle or torture her. The daughter then intervened to get her father off of her mother, knowing that he wouldn’t hurt her, the sergeant said.

After getting her mom off the floor, they both went upstairs to the master bedroom with her father following closely behind. At that point, Stineback shut the door behind he and his wife. Terry Stineback then told the girl to go back to her room before locking the door behind he and his wife.

The girl, still standing outside the bedroom, said she heard her parents continue to fight. Then she heard screaming, yelling and several loud booms, and then nothing else until her dad came out of the room a little later to call 911.

“At that point she looked at me and said, ‘I think my mom is dead,’” Esarey said.

The daughter also provided testimony during the proceedings. Although she said she couldn’t remember some details of what happened that evening, her account was largely the same as the one she provided that night to Esarey and other officers.

During her testimony, the 9-year-old said Laura told her earlier that evening that she had cut the billing off of the cell phone Terry Stineback used for work, which Laura Stineback had been paying for. The girl said this made her father angry.

She also said she had never seen her parents get into a physical fight like the one prior to that night.

Several other witnesses who had met with Stineback earlier on the day of the shooting also testified, providing accounts of his actions and behavior in the hours leading up to the incident.

Jeff Brown, a friend and one of Stineback’s coworkers with the Michigan Department of Transportation, said on the morning of hte shooting when he asked Stineback how Laura was doing (as she was on medical leave at the time from her job), he responded by telling him “they [her employer] better take the crazy b**** back; I can’t take it anymore.”

In spite of his strong language, Brown said it didn’t appear the man was angry when he made the comment.

“I’ve never heard Terry raise his voice or lose his temper or anything like that,” Brown said, adding that Stineback was well liked among his peers at the job.

Bill Grant, another friend of Stineback’s, also testified that he had talked with the defendant when he saw him at the Dowagiac Eagle’s Club, where Stineback was having a couple drinks and a meal shortly before the shooting took place. During their conversation, Stineback told Grant that Laura had sent him 117 text messages and called him 26 times earlier that day, though due to his job he couldn’t respond to her. However, it didn’t sound like his wife’s persistent attempts to contact him irritated him, Grant said.

Like Brown, Grant said Stineback had a good reputation among those in the community and wasn’t known for violence, he said.

“Everybody likes him,” he said. “He’s just a very nice guy.”

Stineback’s trial will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.