Witness said she saw Klug dead in garage

By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal staff | Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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BELLE FOURCHE -- Cynthia Kindall testified Monday that she saw Troy Klug dead in the garage of the Belle Fourche home of James Kusick and Jamee Corean a few days after Klug was abducted on July 12, 2004.

Then, Kindall told jurors in Corean's criminal trial, she and Tory Teigen took Klug's body to Montana, where they buried him under the root of a tree that had blown down.

Corean, 29, is on trial for kidnapping and accessory to the murder of Klug, then 26, whose body has not been found. Klug disappeared after going to Kindall's Rapid City home to get methamphetamine.

Kindall, 44, and Teigen, 32, are both in prison for Klug's kidnapping.

The details of Kindall's testimony didn't exactly match what other witnesses said. In fact, each person who was directly involved in what happened to Klug that week has told a slightly different story. As defense attorneys have pointed out, even those stories have changed over time.

Some variances could be because four years have passed since Klug disappeared. Also, many of those witnesses were heavy meth users in July 2004.

But several witnesses, including Kusick, admit they lied to investigators, to grand juries and on the stand during the 2005 trial when Teigen was convicted of kidnapping.

Kusick, 29, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and to perjury in Pennington County. He admits lying repeatedly to investigators, telling them that he, his then-girlfriend Jamee Corean, and friends Abby DeJong and Eric Haar knew nothing about Teigen bringing Klug's bound body to the Kusick/Corean home on July 13, 2004.

As defense attorney Dave Claggett noted, it wasn't until Kusick was indicted on accessory to murder charges in November 2007 that Kusick said anything about Corean and the others knowing Klug was being held captive in the garage.

Kusick, who is now serving 20 years in prison for his crimes, gave a simple explanation.

"I was trying to protect everybody," he said.

DeJong and Haar, who have had an off-and-on relationship for years, testified as well. Haar said Kusick told him July 13 about Teigen bringing a duct-taped Klug to his house that morning. Kusick said he asked Haar to look inside a construction toolbox in the garage that afternoon to make sure Klug wasn't there.

Haar said he looked inside the box – which was on display in the Butte County courtroom Monday -- and saw Klug, then dropped the lid and wiped off his fingerprints with a paper towel.

When defense attorney Bruce Hubbard asked Haar to step off the witness stand and demonstrate, Haar immediately put up his hands and said, "I don't want to. Do I have to? I'd rather not."

Haar said Kusick did not see Klug's body, although Kusick testified he did.

DeJong, 28, said she and Corean were best friends and used drugs together in July 2004. She said Corean calmly told her on July 13 that somebody was being held captive in the garage.

"I said, 'If that was me in there, I would want somebody to help me,'" DeJong said tearfully.

When Assistant Attorney General Rod Oswald asked her about Corean's response, DeJong replied, "She just said no, that the cops will get him."

DeJong also said she and Corean agreed that, if questioned, they would not tell authorities about seeing Teigen and Kindall that day.

On the stand Monday, Kindall was uncertain as to what happened when during the week of July 12. Kindall, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to kidnapping and takes numerous medications for her mental illnesses.

Speaking haltingly, she told jurors how she went into the garage at Kusick and Corean's house and saw Klug's body - still duct-taped - on the floor.

When Oswald asked how she knew Klug was dead, Kindall said, "Because Tory kicked him and told him he stunk. And he didn't make a sound, and he was real stiff."

Kindall told how she and Teigen then drove to Montana with Klug's body in the trunk of her car. She said she has nightmares about flies, because the car was full of them.

In Montana, the two - who met just weeks earlier - drove up a steep, rocky hillside, then through a creekbed into a ravine, where Teigen buried Klug's body under a tree.

"I said, 'Well, we should say prayers,' because I was really upset," Kindall said. Leaving, "neither one of us really talked."

Kindall has taken investigators to the area three times, trying to find Klug's body.

She returns to the witness stand this morning.

If convicted of accessory to murder, Corean would face up to five years in prison. A kidnapping conviction has a maximum penalty of life in prison. Corean is also charged with perjury in Pennington County.

Teigen is serving a 100-year prison sentence.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com