Trace Christenson
The Enquirer
On the first day of Tom Foley's murder trial, a prosecutor said that Foley shot and killed his wife earlier this year in the shower of the couple's Branch County home.
"This murder was planned, premeditated and thought out," said Branch County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Webb on Tuesday. "He took his brother-in-law's shotgun, he was alone in the house with Dee Dee, and she went to take a shower and that is where she was found."
Dee Dee Foley was shot in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun from a distance of 6 inches, Webb told a jury of 10 men and four women Tuesday afternoon.
And while the gun was never found, Webb said Michigan State Police found a plastic shopping bag containing three 12-gauge shotgun shells in the basement of the Foleys' Girard Township home. On the bag, crime laboratory technicians found a fingerprint of Tom Foley's right index finger.
"And the defendant denied (to police) knowing anything about the bag," Webb said.
Webb told the jurors that Foley gave conflicting statements about finding his wife; notably that he turned off the shower when he entered the bathroom. Investigators, who arrived a short time after Foley called 911, said the shower and her body were dry.
Webb told the jurors that Foley's 10-year-old son and a friend will testify they heard a bang or loud noise inside the house while they played outside.
The other boy "will testify he went to the part of the house where he heard the noise and it was the bathroom window," Webb said.
Foley, 41, was arrested March 6, a month after the Feb. 7 shooting death of his wife, a second-grade teacher with Union City Community Schools.
The couple was preparing for a 10th birthday party for their son, Heath, at the home of a friend, Webb explained.
"It was one of the warmest and nicest days of the year," Webb said. "Sunny and in the low fifties. The snow had melted. But Dee Dee Foley never made it to the party. This day was Dee Dee's last. She was 41 years old."
The evidence will show, Webb said, that Tom Foley left the house with the two boys and made a couple of stops before arriving at the party. He told friends his wife was to arrive after picking up a couple other boys, but when she was late for the 5 p.m. start, he left and went home. He told police he found her in the shower and called authorities.
Defense attorney J. Thomas Schaeffer of Marshall has denied his client had any part in the murder of his wife. Schaeffer will make his opening statement when the trial resumes on Thursday morning, after a one-day break for Veterans Day.
More than 90 prospective jurors were called to the courthouse in Coldwater and 25 were dismissed for cause, mostly because they knew about the case and had formed opinions that they couldn't set aside. The lawyers dismissed 19 jurors without specifying a reason. Nearly every person questioned said they had heard about the case.
During juror questioning, Prosecutor Terri Norris asked if jurors would rely on testimony from children aged 10 or 11, and if they would require her to prove a motive, which is not an element of the murder charge.
Later Webb told the jury, "We may never know the motive."
But Schaeffer told the prospective jurors there are motives for murder and then cautioned jurors not to accept the idea that "they wouldn't have arrested him if he wasn't guilty. The fact that there is a death is not an indication that the defendant committed a crime."
The trial is being heard by Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt, who was appointed after Branch County Circuit Judge P. William O'Grady disqualified himself because he knew the Foley family.
Trace Christenson can be reached at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecr.gannett.com.
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