Gavel. (MGN)

DES MOINES – The Iowa Supreme Court Friday upheld the second-degree conviction in a 1992 cold case of a Tipton woman who killed her West Liberty boyfriend with a baseball bat after she found out he was cheating on her.

Cahill, then 29, was sentenced in November 2019 after a second trial in Muscatine County District Court for killing Corey Wieneke, 22 at the time, a bartender, in his home just outside West Liberty on Oct. 13, 1992.

Cahill and Wieneke had a romantic relationship for about a year before his death, and according to trial testimony the two argued about his involvement with another woman several hours before his body was discovered about 6:30 p.m. by his fiancée, Jody Hotz, who went to work at 8 a.m., while Wieneke was still asleep that day.

Wieneke worked nights as a bartender, according to the ruling. When Hotz returned home, things were out of place, their dog was outside unchained and the screen door was left open.

Hotz then found Wieneke inside dead, lying face down on the floor next to their bed. He was only wearing his underwear and his body was bloodied and battered. There was blood spattered on the bed, floor and the wall, the ruling stated.

A forensic pathologist testified at trial that Wieneke had 13 separate blunt force injuries and a bat or pipe could have been the murder weapon, according to the ruling. Four of the wounds were to his head and the fatal blow split open the back of his skull.

According to testimony, Wieneke had been working at Wink’s Tap in West Liberty, which was his uncle’s business. He had a reputation for having more than one relationship with different women. One of those relationships was with Cahill.

Cahill said she and Wieneke had plans to “skip town” in October 1992 and purchase a bar in Branson, Mo.

According to the ruling, Cahill was waiting for Wieneke in his blue Cadillac after 2 a.m. Oct. 13, 1992 when the bar closed, but he had another woman, Wendi Marshall, with him. He planned to drop off Cahill and go with Marshall. Cahill was “furious,” she later admitted, and described it as a “fish or cut bait” moment.

Wieneke and Cahill had a “heated discussion” outside the vehicle and then Wieneke drove Marshall to her car and said he was dropping off Cahill and would come back.

Cahill said he took her home but remained long enough to have “angry sex,” and then left, the ruling stated. Wieneke went back to Marshall’s house but didn’t stay long and then went home to Hotz.

Law enforcement said Cahill had a potential motive but there were no eyewitnesses and no physical evidence, according to the ruling. They couldn’t identify a killer, so the case went cold. Authorities looked a various theories over the years but nothing came of those.

According to the ruling, Cahill had always been a suspect, but she had always cooperated with law enforcement and had an alibi through her sister-in-law, who said they had been together that morning.

Then, in December 2017, Jessica Becker, an intensive care nurse the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics happened to meet Special Agent Trent Vileta with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, who was interviewing a witness in a different case.

During their conversation, Vileta mentioned he worked on cold cases and Becker told him she witnessed Cahill making a confession when she was 9-years-old, according to the ruling. Cahill, lived with her brother, Denny Hazen and his wife at a farmhouse. Becker was friends with Hazen’s daughters and would go over for sleepovers.

During a sleepover in the fall of 1992, Becker and one of Hazen’s daughters decided to sneak downstairs late at night and overheard Cahill, downstairs by herself with lit black candles, crying and confessing to killing Wieneke.

Becker tried to talk to Cahill’s niece, who also overheard it, but she became defensive and said she didn’t want to talk about it.

According to testimony, Becker also told her mother but her mother testified she was afraid to take her daughter to police.

Cahill was found guilty of second-degree murder in a retrial in September 2019. The first trial in March 2019 ended in a mistrial because the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.

In Cahill’s appeal, she asked the court for a new trial, arguing the prosecution failed to timely disclose four human hairs found on Wieneke’s hand were unsuitable for standard DNA testing.

Cahill also argued the 26 year delay in prosecution violated her right to due process because it’s unreasonable and diminished her ability to present a defense, according to the ruling.

Justice Mansfield, writing for the majority, said Cahill received a fair trial. She could have pursued further DNA testing but didn’t. However, she possibly still could in a post-conviction proceeding, if she chooses.

There was no actual prejudice and “no bad faith” on the part of the prosecution regarding the delayed prosecution of the case, the ruling stated. There was sufficient evidence to find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder.

Cahill, now 59, is serving a 50-year sentence.

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