Wisconsin man faces murder charge in 1980 killing
PORTAGE, Wis. -- Blood from a stain in a bathroom sink linked a 51-year-old man to the beating and stabbing death of a friend's wife nearly 30 years ago, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.
Marilyn McIntyre's husband found her beaten, strangled and stabbed when he returned from working an overnight shift on March 11, 1980. The couple's 3-month-old baby was in a crib at their Columbus apartment.
An autopsy determined McIntyre had been "knocked around savagely" and "suffered traumatic sexual contact," the complaint said.
Curtis Forbes of Randolph was charged Monday with first-degree murder in McIntyre's death. He participated Monday in a hearing via video conference from the county jail where he's been held since his arrest last week.
Columbia County Circuit Judge Alan White set bail at $750,000 cash.
District Attorney Jane Kohlwey had asked for a $5 million bond, saying Forbes could be a flight risk and threat to some witnesses. She argued that Forbes, an out-of-work carpenter, took $2,000 from a business he owned with his brother two days after the slaying, left Wisconsin and changed his appearance before returning about six months later.
As recently as February, Kohlwey said, Forbes called a carpenter's union in Hawaii to ask about work. While in jail, he has said "something has got to be done about the people who are saying these things about me," Kohlwey told the judge.
Forbes' attorney, George Strother, called Kohlwey's bail request absurd. Forbes has "unimpeachable status" in the community, having lived in Randolph for 29 years with his wife, Strother said.
The attorney said his client had no criminal record and called the prosecution's case against him weak.
"There certainly is nothing here that establishes anything of a sort of smoking gun that causes one to say, 'Wow. This is really damaging information and may be the sinking of Mr. Forbes' ship,'" Strother told the judge.
White called the case unusual, noting that much of the evidence against Forbes has been known since 1980.
Forbes gave police hair samples in 1980, but the state crime lab didn't link them to DNA from the McIntyre's apartment until 2007. McIntyre's body was exhumed in March 2008 for collection of more evidence.
The criminal complaint said recent DNA analysis determined that both Forbes' and McIntyre's blood were found in a stain in McIntyre's bathroom sink. The blood was collected just hours after the slaying.
Forbes' DNA also was found on a cigarette in the apartment. Forbes told investigators he probably left it there two days before the slaying, but other witnesses indicated he hadn't been at the home for a week before McIntyre's death, the complaint said.
A man identified in the complaint as a "citizen informant" told investigators that Forbes spoke of getting away with murder about six years ago.
Forbes' wife, Debra, told police recently that he arrived at her parents' home around 2 a.m. the night of the killing. He had blood on his shirt and was shaking, the woman told investigators last week. She said Forbes made an excuse about the blood and held her tightly when she asked what was wrong.
Forbes and McIntyre's husband, Lane, were friends from high school.
Lane McIntyre, 52, has said Forbes abused Debra Forbes, his girlfriend at the time, and she turned to Marilyn McIntyre for help. Records show she moved out on Forbes and went back to her parents' home three days before McIntyre was killed.