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In October 1992, Corey Wieneke was found beaten to death in the Iowa home he shared with his fiance Jody Hotz. The alleged murder weapon - an aluminum baseball bat - was found not far from the crime scene the following day. Investigators initially suspected the involvement of his lover, Annette Cahill (then Hazen), but no progress was made back then.
The case remained unsolved for 25 years until December 2017, when an unusual witness named Jessica Becker, who was nine years old at the time of the incident, told authorities that she saw Annette lighting black candles and apologizing for hurting Corey one night. Annette was later arrested and convicted of murder.
Corey Wieneke's 1992 bludgeoning death is slated to feature on NBC Dateline's upcoming episode this Friday, August 4, 2023. The episode, titled The Black Candle Confession, airs on the channel at 9 pm ET.
Here's an official synopsis for the same:
"A glimpse of a sobbing woman lighting black candles is seared into a 9-year-old girl’s memory. Decades later that girl reveals what she saw, heating up a long-cold case. Keith Morrison reports."
Corey Wieneke's murder case: A grisly crime, an unusual confession, and delayed justice, among other details
1) Corey's fiance was the first to arrive at the crime scene
Corey Wieneke's high school sweetheart and fiance, Jody Hotz, found his body in the bedroom of the Iown home they shared in the evening hours of October 13, 1992. Jody, who worked in an Iowa City bank, claimed she returned home to find the 22-year-old beaten to death. She called 911 sometime around 6 pm and told the operators:
"[Corey] he's all bloody, and he's not breathing, and he's cold."
Jody later told investigators that she last saw Corey that morning before leaving for work around 8 am. At the time, he was asleep in bed. Her co-workers corroborated her alibi, and she was ruled out as a suspect in the slaying.
2) He was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat
At the crime scene, first responders found that Corey Wieneke was bludgeoned to death. Oxygen reported that Muscatine County Sheriff C.J. Ryan stated that
"[It] was a blunt force trauma type of crime and the beating had taken place."
Moreover, the burglary angle was ruled out when nothing was found missing or out of place at the crime scene. The following day, a bloody aluminium bat was located not far from the house.
3) Investigators suspected the involvement of Corey Wieneke's lover
During the initial stages of the investigation into Corey's beating death, his friend Wendi Marshall informed authorities that she and the victim, who worked as a bartender at his family-run restaurant Wink's Bar & Grill, ran into Annette Cahill (then Hazen) at closing time on the morning of October 13. Annette was allegedly drunk at the time, and Corey offered to drive her home. The two even got into a brief scuffle during the drive. Wendi claimed he met her later.
When confronted with this information, Annette told investigators that she and Corey were in a casual s*xual relationship, and they argued because she was jealous. As per her version of the events, the two made up and also had s*x. The 29-year-old was ruled out as a suspect after her alibi was corroborated, and she also passed a polygraph test.
4) After 25 years, a confession implicated Annette in Corey's murder
Corey Wieneke's murder case remained unsolved for 25 years until December 2017, when a woman named Jessica Becker confessed to investigators from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation. She was nine years old at the time of the incident and was friends with Annette Cahill's niece.
According to Jessica's confession, she was having a sleepover at Annette's house when she saw her lighting black candles and apologizing to Corey for hurting him in the middle of the night. She allegedly heard Annette talk about how she never intended to hurt or kill him [Corey] and that she loved him.
5) Annette Cahill was found guilty of murder during her second trial
Following Jessica Beker's confession, Annette was arrested on May 31, 2018, and charged with first-degree murder in Corey Wieneke's 1992 slaying. She was tried the following year. During the trial, prosecutors alleged that the defendant murdered the victim in a fit of rage because she was jealous of his relationships with different women. The trial ended with a deadlocked jury.
A second trial followed in September 2019 when a witness named Scott Payne, who was Annette's drug buddy at the time of the murder, claimed he saw her burning blood-stained clothes that same day. She was eventually found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to a maximum of 50 years in prison.
NBC Dateline will further delve into the case on Friday, August 4, at 9 pm ET.
