Opening Statements: “Victim crawled through her own blood to get out”

WARNING CONTENT MAY BE DISTURBING 

BUCYRUS—Opening statements began this morning on the murder trial of Robert Pinyerd. Pinyerd is on trial for the murder of Cynthia Jo Heath, of Crestline, in February of 2022.

Assistant Prosecutor Dan Stanley told the jury that the victim had been in an on-again-off-again relationship with the defendant.

At the time of Heath’s murder, the relationship was off. Heath expected Pinyerd to move out of her home that day.

Heath was dating Michael Brittain. Stanley told the jury Pinyerd knew she was going on a morning date with Brattain. That didn’t sit well with Pinyerd.

Brattain picked Cindy up at around 8:15 am after her then nine-year-old daughter got on the school bus.

They went to Bucyrus for breakfast and returned at about 9:30 am.

When the victim saw that Pinyerd was still at her house, she had Brattain drop her off in front of her mother’s house, just a few doors from her own.

Concerned for her safety, Brattain told Cindy to let him know she was OK.

According to the prosecution, phone records will confirm Brattain began calling coworkers in the Columbus area at around 10:15 am.

“No one sees her alive again,” Stanley told the jury.

Heath’s mother, Paula McDougal, texted her daughter around 3 am.

Stanley told the jury Cindy’s mother stayed up late. When she got up at about 2 pm on the day of her daughter’s death, she texted Cindy with no reply.

She texted Pinyerd to see if her daughter was awake, but he didn’t respond.

Later that day, her granddaughter came to her house. The child was locked out of her usual entry point of the house. Her daughter’s car was gone.

At the same time, Brattain is texting Paula, saying he can’t get in contact with Cindy. He called her 15 times.

Brattain told Paula it looked like Cindy had blocked him. He thought maybe she was back with Pinyerd.

“About 6:30 pm, everyone is getting concerned. Mike Brattain was back in Crestline from Columbus, and many people are concerned. The doors are locked, the car is gone. It’s concerning because the defendant had permission to use the car. She’s not answering her phone. There are no signs of forced entry or kicked in doors,” Stanley said.

The family called the police. They explained that Cindy’s mother owned the home, and they needed to gain access to make sure she was OK. The police denied assisting them with access, saying that Cindy had not been missing long enough to warrant kicking in the door.

By 8:45 pm, with the oldest daughter at the scene, they decided not to listen to the police. They forced open a screen door and walked in to find her lying on the floor.

“They found blood marks, indicating she crawled through her own blood to get out of the house before being shot in the head.” Stanley told the jury. The Crestline police called BCI to the scene.

According to prosecutors, 45 caliber shell casings were at the scene. One bullet went through her head and landed on the ground. Her glasses were broken. She has been shot in the back of the head and once in the neck.

The defendant’s firearm and phone were not recovered. The gun was shot through something to muffle the sound or prevent blood spatter.

Police began searching for Pinyerd. He was located the next day and arrested at a laundromat in Mansfield. When arrested, he had two phones in his possession. One was a phone he used occasionally, and the other was emptied from a factory reset.

The state says they can prove that he continued connecting to Cindy’s home Wi-Fi as late as 11:14 am on the day of her death.

After Pinyerd left Cindy’s house, no one ever found them again.

Defense Attorney Tom Nicholson offered the jury “the rest of the story.”

Nicholson told the jury that the Crestline Police Department acted as though there could be no other suspects.

“Shoddy police work caused them to ignore four other suspects. They didn’t even talk to people until five or eight months later.” Nicholson said.

According to the defense, Heath has led a very active social life since she left her husband in Alaska and returned to Crestline in 2020. The two were in a high-stakes custody and divorce battle. Heath was asking for $50,000 a year in alimony and child support.

“Most people in this court room don’t make $50,000 a year working all year. Just the request of $50,000 has not been mentioned. The magistrate in the case ordered them to not to harass one another. Why was nothing done to investigate that? After her mother’s death, the child left to live with her father in Alaska. He has cut her family from all contact with the child,” Nicholson told the jury.

According to the defense, she was living with Pinyerd, dating Brattain, and texting with an old boyfriend, Joey Ronk.

Nicholson criticized the police for waiting and not going into that house when they received the first call. According to Nicholson, they would have found a pristine crime scene if they’d gone in at the first request of her family.

“No one would have disturbed the scene. The family went in at 9 pm and found her laying there. They call 911, but before they do, they move the body. Essentially, they destroyed the congruity of the crime scene. They (911) tell her older daughter to do CPR. They did CPR to the point that they damaged her ribs. They were trying to get her to come back to life; understandably. Just think about how different it might have looked if they had gone in the first time,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson told the jury that Heath had had an active social life. Initially, while she was living with his client, his client went into rehab. While Pinyerd was in recovery, Cindy moved Mike Brattain into her house. She met him when he was painting her mother’s house.

The three allegedly lived together after Pinyerd came back from rehab.

“When this happened, Brattain’s ex-wife had a physical confrontation with Cindy outside a local factory,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson told the jury that simple “targeting” of Pinyard interrupted the investigation of all the other possible suspects.

Nicholson told the jury they repeatedly tried to get his client to confess. They kept asking him where the gun was, and he kept telling them he didn’t have one.

“It’s embarrassing. No detective trained on how to question a suspect was there. The chief of police does it. The detective who should have done the questioning is now the Chief of Police in Crestline. Her soon-to-be ex-husband was in Crestline visiting his daughter before this happened. He knows the layout of her home. Something isn’t right. Michael Brattain lived there till six weeks before the crime. He had a key,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson told the jury Heath and her mother had recently testified in court to lift a no-contact order against Pinyerd. They had a nice family dinner the night before she died.

In conclusion, Nicholson asked the jury to look at the case critically. He told the jury he believed the evidence would show. There is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt; “It looks like a mob hit. There’s no DNA.

There’s no gun. No one can place him near a gunshot except this witness that surfaced a week ago. The forensics don’t line up, but my client’s alibi does,” Nicholson concluded.

Crawford County Now will continue to provide complete courtroom coverage.