The Hoerig Trial: Testimony to continue in the 2007 Newton Falls murder
The jury has begun to hear witness testimony in the more than a decade old murder case out of Trumbull County and the defense says Claudia Hoerig herself will testify in her own defense.

WARREN, Ohio - The jury will continue to hear witness testimony in the more than a decade old murder case out of Trumbull County on Thursday.
A jury made up of ten men and two women, plus four alternate jurors was seated late Tuesday afternoon. The following day they visited the home where Major Karl Hoerig was found dead before hearing opening statements from both sides.
As you may know, the victim, in this case, is Air Force Major Karl Hoerig- the husband of 54-year-old Claudia Hoerig who is the defendant.
Karl Hoerig, who flew for the 910th Airlift Wing was found murdered on March 15th of 2007, but authorities believe the murder happened on March 12th.
His colleagues at the Air Base contacted Newton Falls police to check his W. Ninth Street home when he didn't show up for a scheduled flight assignment.
Hoerig's body was found inside his home covered with a tarp at the bottom of the stairs. He had been shot twice in the back and once in the head.
A warrant for Claudia's arrest was issued after authorities say she murdered her husband, emptied his bank account, and then fled to her native Brazil before his body was discovered.
At some point, Claudia Hoerig is expected to take the stand.
WEDNESDAY:
The jury was loaded on to a bus and taken to a jury view at the West 9th Street home in Newton Falls where the murder happened on Wednesday morning.
From there they returned to the courthouse, where they began to hear opening statements from prosecutors and defense attorneys.
During opening statements on Wednesday Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins painted a picture of the alleged crime that argued that Hoerig pursued her husband with the intent to kill him because he planned to leave her that day and move out.
"She shot him from the top of the stairs as he was putting his shoes on, and she also went down and shot him at the bottom of the stairs," said Watkins.
He continued, by explaining that the third shot was fired from less than 12 inches away. "Close right to the head, last shot. The reason we say its the last shot, our expert will say, Dr. Fillo, that bullet was through and through and that bullet was recovered on the other side of his head. You had to put that bullet right up to his head to get that spickling, that gunshot residue."
Watkins said in his opening statement that he plans to present evidence that will show Hoerig followed her husband, despite having shot him in the back.
"She pursued him, from all our evidence, from upstairs, to finish it. If you pursue a helpless human being, down the steps, you've gotta straddle him, and go on either side and go bang bang."
That fiery statement earned a hearty objection from Hoerig's defense attorneys.
Watkins concluded that line of thinking by stating that despite Hoerig's assertion that she shot her husband from the top of the stairs, there is no evidence to suggest that Karl fell down any stairs at all.
Hoerig has argued previously in court filings that she should have been tried in Brazil.
However, during his opening statements, Watkins said that during the trial the state will prove that's not the case.
"Individuals who commit a crime, under the laws in this country, don't get a trial where they are caught. That's why the law provides extradition," said Watkins.
Hoerig's defense attorneys returned to the courtroom Wednesday afternoon to give their opening statement.
Attorney John Cornely, one of the State's defense attorney's assigned to Hoerig's cases said to the jurors, "I'm going to be straight up with you. Evidence is going to show that Claudia Hoerig shot her husband three times."
However, Cornely said the issue at the center of their defense is why Hoerig shot her husband.
Cornely said that in the upcoming trial, there will be no evidence to prove that Hoerig's murder was premeditated, citing that Claudia Hoerig left more than a thousand personal belongings behind, including more than 70 pairs of shoes.
Atty. Cornely also pointed to the fact that Hoerig had been out of psychiatric in-patient treatment for attempted suicide for less than 30 days when Karl Hoerig allegedly found Claudia attempting to commit suicide.
Major Karl Hoerig reportedly told Claudia to go ahead but told her to go to the basement so as not to destroy his paintings.
Cornely said in his opening statement that the jurors would see and hear evidence that proved Claudia Hoerig shot and killed her husband, but would not hear evidence that proved premeditation or planning.
Immediately following the opening statements, Prosecutors Dennis Watkins and Chris Becker began calling witnesses to the stand.
The first man called to the witness stand, Donald Shrecengost, testified that in 2007 he owned four rental properties. In February of 2007, Schrecengost said Maj. Karl Hoerig paid him $100 to place a "hold" on a small home for rent.
Schrecengost said Hoerig told him that he was going to Texas to learn to fly a different type of plane but would be back.
Next, the jurors heard from Ronald Lane, a retired Police Sergeant from Newton Falls Police Department. Lane was the officer who first discovered Karl Hoerig's body inside the Newton Falls home.
Lane testified that he was sent to the home to check the welfare of Karl Hoerig after he did not show up for work.
According to Lane's testimony, when he got to the home he found no one there but forced open a sliding glass door. It was at that point that Lane said he could smell the scent of decay.
"Soon as I walked in the door I could smell it," Lane testified.
Lane said Karl Hoerig's parents arrived at the home. During his testimony, Lane recalled the moment they found Karl Hoerig dead: "The tarp was laying there in the living room and we looked down and there was a hand sticking out of the tarp," he said. "I pulled the tarp up and I could see Karl was laying there, with blood coming out of his head. I called my chief and I said I think we have a homicide."
A third witness, a man who worked at Slugmasters, a gunshop along Route 5 near Newton Falls, testified about Claudia Hoerig's attempts to purchase a weapon on March 10th, 2007.
That witness, Brian Martin, told the jury that Hoerig told him she wanted a weapon for protection. Martin testified that he pointed her toward a .357 magnum, rather than the .44 magnum that she initially pointed to because of the amount of kickback since she was a beginner.
The last witness of the day, former Trumbull County Sheriff's Detective Pete Pizzulo, testified about much of the evidence from that day.
Pizzulo testified that based on his experience as a law enforcement officer, he could tell that Karl Hoerig's body had been inside the home for some time.
Pizzulo spoke about methods used by investigators to discover the trajectory of the bullets. According to Pizzulo, investigators would place a straight metal rod into a bullet hole, such as the one in the floor near where Karl's body was found.
A string would then be attached to the rod and give an estimated trajectory of where that bullet would have come from.
According to Pizzulo, their estimated trajectory would have placed the shooter at the top of the stairs.
Pizzulo also testified that during the investigation they attempted to track Claudia Hoerig and found that her cell phone was located in Pittsburgh. That was just the first search warrant to be obtained for the vehicle.
When they tracked her to Pittsburgh, Pizzulo said they found the BMW registered to the Hoerigs' and searched it.
Defense attorneys asked if Pizzulo and other investigators had gotten Hoerig's permission to search the vehicle. Pizzulo said he had not, because Claudia had not responded to multiple attempts to reach her.
21 News has learned that several of the jurors are retired from General Motors, one of them is married to a police officer, and one man is a church pastor.
The jury is also made up of two young mothers and one African-American male. But what's most interesting is that one of the jurors that ended up on the jury after a challenge by the defense was a man in the Air Force.