14 Stab Wounds, Joliet Woman's Corpse Sexually Abused: Prosecutor

JOLIET, IL — Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins set bail at $5 million for Joliet's newest first-degree murder defendant after hearing that Timothy Thurmond fatally stabbed 58-year-old Joliet resident Cynthia Pinnick 14 times with two different knives after the handle of his first knife broke, according to high-ranking Will County prosecutor Peter Wilkes.

On Friday, Wilkes told those in the courtroom that Thurmond was interviewed for about eight hours Thursday by Joliet police detectives. Before Joliet police tracked the 47-year-old Thurmond down at the Joliet business where he worked, Thurmond had asked his employer for a paycheck advance because he planned to flee the area and head to Michigan to avoid questioning in the murder, Wilkes noted.

According to Wilkes, Pinnick was the victim of a sex crime. He said Thurmond killed her — back on August 25 in her apartment in the 200 block of Hunter Avenue — because she continued to reject his sexual advances. Wilkes said Thurmond had even offered to pay her for sex, but she refused.

Neighbors told Joliet police they had seen Thurmond at Pinnick's apartment unit for the past couple of months. The slaying happened on the city's west side in the St. Pat's Area.

Family members found Pinnick's decomposed body late Thursday morning, a week after her death, according to Wilkes. Joliet police found several neighbors who heard loud yelling coming from Pinnick's apartment, and they heard her pleading three or four times to stop.

During the violent attack, Wilkes said Thurmond had taken Pinnick out on her balcony. "This witness, unfortunately, did not call the police," Wilkes revealed in court Friday.

The Joliet homicide victim would have turned 59 years old in October.

During questioning Thursday by Joliet police detectives, Thurmond gave them three different versions of what happened, the judge learned.

At first, according to the prosecution, Thurmond maintained that nothing happened, there was no fight, nothing.

In his second statement, Thurmond insisted he and Pinnick were drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine and the victim went into her bedroom and was on the phone with someone, Wilkes said. Then, Pinnick emerged from her bedroom swinging a knife at Thurmond and attacking him and "she flipped out," causing Thurmond to push her and stab her with a larger second knife, according to Thurmond's statement.

In his third and final story around 9:45 p.m. Thursday, Wilkes said, Thurmond "admitted that the victim did not have a knife at all" and that he killed her because he wanted to have sexual relations with her, even offering her money, which she turned down.

The blade of the first steak knife broke off during the stabbing in the victim's living room, and that prompted Thurmond to obtain a bigger knife to continue the killing, Wilkes said.

In total, Pinnick suffered 14 stab wounds and two different knives were used, Wilkes said.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office is also planning to pursue criminal charges of sexual abuse of a corpse, Wilkes said. The judge learned from the prosecutor that after Pinnick's slain body was on the floor, Thurmond stood over her, masturbating "on her corpse."

Thurmond also touched the victim inappropriately, Wilkes said, and authorities are trying to determine if that sexual abuse happened before or after Pinnick was dead.

Lastly, Wilkes pointed out, Thurmond "thanked the Joliet Police for their work" because he had packed his bags to flee the area and get to Michigan.

"Bond will be set in the amount of $5 million, 10 percent," Judge DeWilkins announced.

When the judge asked Thurmond, who appeared over video from the Will County Jail, whether he planned to hire a private lawyer, Thurmond got up and walked out on the judge.

"I don't know what the answer was because he walked out," the judge declared.

DeWilkins then appointed the Will County Public Defender's Office to represent Thurmond, who has a long criminal record in Will County, including an aggravated unlawful restraint with a weapon from last year, involving a knife and a different female victim.

Thurmond's next hearing is set for Sept. 22 in Courtroom 405 of Will County Judge Dave Carlson.