Final pretrial conferences are scheduled for a Whitewater couple charged with homicide in the overdose death of their friend about a year ago.
Jeremy David Meyer, 36, and Kori L. Kincaid, 40, were charged Oct. 13 in Walworth County Circuit Court with first-degree reckless homicide and possession of drug paraphernalia, both as a party to a crime, in connection with the death of Joshua Syck, 34, of Whitewater. Meyer also is charged with theft from a person or corpse as a party to a crime.
A motion hearing is scheduled for Sept. 5 for Meyer, who is scheduled to go on trial in October with a final pretrial conference Sept. 19.
A final pretrial conference is scheduled for Oct. 30 for Kincaid with a five-day jury trial set to begin Nov. 12.
According to the criminal complaint, Syck’s girlfriend, Jessica Gault, found Syck dead in a portable toilet on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater intramural fields at about 11 p.m. Sept. 2.
When police responded, Meyer also was there, and police noted Syck’s body had “tie-off” marks on his left forearm and an injection mark on his left hand, according to the complaint.
Gault told police Syck had gone to visit Meyer the night of Sept. 1 and was acting strange when he returned home, according to the complaint. Syck told Gault he had tried to buy a pill from Meyer and wasn’t able to, so he bought heroin from someone in Garden Apartments, the complaint states.
The next morning, Gault said, Syck left their residence at about 11 a.m. to meet with Meyer to buy pills, which he frequently does, according to the complaint.
At about 2 p.m. Sept. 2, Gault said she began sending messages to Syck but got no response and contacted Meyer. Meyer said Syck had not shown up at their usual meeting spot and came over to help Gault search for Syck, according to the complaint.
Gault and Meyer found Syck inside the portable toilet with a syringe in his hand and his wallet and a Ziploc bag on top of the toilet paper dispenser, according to the complaint. Gault said she took the syringe out of his hand and gave it to Meyer and threw the bag and wallet on the ground, the complaint states.
Another woman, Jennifer Klefbohm, said Meyer drove her to Rockford, Ill., where he bought heroin and crack cocaine on Sept. 2, according to the complaint. She said later in the day Sept. 2, Meyer became concerned about not being able to reach Syck and told her Syck had overdosed at Meyer’s residence the night before and had, at one point, turned blue, according to the complaint.
After finding Syck’s body that night, Klefbohm said Meyer handed her a wallet, which she presumed belonged to Syck, and said he was concerned that his and Kincaid’s DNA would be on the heroin bag found with Syck because Meyer had given him the heroin and both he and Kincaid had handled the bag, according to the complaint.
She said Meyer told her he wanted the wallet because he knew Syck kept heroin in his wallet and said he and Kincaid had used the heroin they found in Syck’s wallet, the complaint states.
Kincaid told police she drove with Meyer to Rockford, Ill., on Sept. 1 to buy heroin for Syck. She said Syck came over that night and probably used heroin at the residence, according to the complaint. She said she heard Meyer asking Syck if he was OK, saw Syck “kind of twitching” and told him he better get out of the residence, according to the complaint.
