IN OCTOBER 1992, 22-year-old Corey Wieneke was found dead in the small town of West Liberty, Iowa.
His death remained a cold case until 25 years later when authorities were tipped on a potential lead— here's all we know.
Who was Corey Wieneke?
Corey Lee Wieneke was born on March 25, 1970, in Muscatine, Iowa. He was the son of James and Susan Winfield Wieneke.
In 1988, Corey graduated from West Liberty High School where he was recognized as a football star.
After graduating high school, Corey went on to work as a bartender at Wink's Bar & Grill in West Liberty.
At his time of death, Corey was engaged to a woman named Jody Hotz.
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What happened to Corey Wieneke?
On October 13, 1992, Corey's fiancée arrived home from work and found he was bludgeoned to death.
She called the police around 6pm saying: "My fiancé is dead. He's all bloody, and he's not breathing, and he's cold."
When first responders arrived on the scene, they ruled that Corey had been beaten to death.
The following day, the police found a bloody aluminum baseball bar near his home. Unfortunately, there was no DNA evidence found on the alleged weapon.
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How was the case solved?
While carrying out an investigation, Corey's co-workers told police that a woman confronted Corey the morning.
The woman was identified as 29-year-old Annette Cahill (then Hazen).
According to his co-workers, Corey offered to take Annette home.
It was later revealed the two had a sexual relationship whilst he was engaged to Jody.
Annette was then treated as a potential suspect. However, she had an alleged alibi and passed a polygraph test so police stopped looking her way.
Corey's case remained cold until December 2017, when a witness came forward.
Jessica Becker, who was nine at the time, was friends with Annette's niece.
While sleeping over at Annette's house one night, she saw the 29-year-old lighting a black candle in the middle of the night apologizing for murdering him.
While she thought she was speaking in confidence, she said she didn't intend to kill him.
After Jessica provided this information, on May 31, 2018, Annette was arrested and accused of first-degree murder.
However, her first trial was concluded to be a mistrial.
Six months after the verdict of her first trial, Annette was tried again when her former friend Scott Payne testified saying he saw her the night Corey was murdered burning blood-stained clothes.
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On September 2019, Annette was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
NBC Dateline is set to premiere an episode of the case on Friday, August 4, 2023, at 9pm ET.
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