Judge: Probable cause exists in Rock Falls stabbing case, will continue toward trial

MORRISON — A Rock Falls man will stand trial for an early morning Valentine’s Day stabbing that left another Rock Falls man dead.

During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge James Heuerman ruled probable cause exists to try Kyle Cooper on a first-degree murder charge and two aggravated battery charges in connection with the death of Daniel Gordon.

Gordon, 27, was found unresponsive with multiple abdominal stab wounds around 2 a.m. Feb. 14 in the 600 block of West 20th Street in Rock Falls after Cooper and Gordon fought in the driveway, police said. Gordon died later that day at CGH Medical Center in Sterling, according to officials.

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Cooper, wearing blood-stained clothes, turned himself in at the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office later that morning and was charged with aggravated battery, police said. He was formally charged four days later with murder and an additional count of aggravated battery. He has remained detained in the Whiteside County Jail since Feb. 14.

Rock Falls Police Detective Autumn Day, the lead detective on the case, was questioned throughout Tuesday’s hearing. Under questioning by Whiteside County Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Simon, Day answered questions about the timeline of events leading up to the fight, basing her testimony on witness statements.

Those events included an altercation at a bar just hours before between Cooper and Gordon, who was dating a woman who had previously dated Cooper and was with Gordon throughout the night of Feb. 13 and up until the time he was stabbed, around 1:50 a.m. Feb. 14, Day said.

Day testified that Gordon and the woman had been at bars throughout the evening and later decided to go to a home in the 600 block of West 20th Street in Rock Falls. There they were going to pick up a friend and head out to play cards and dice, she said.

Day said the couple were at the house when a vehicle Cooper was driving pulled up to the house, and Cooper got out of the vehicle while holding something metallic in his hand.

The woman, who was sitting on the driver’s side of her vehicle, was fearful Cooper was going to use a knife to slash her tires, so she got out of the vehicle and approached Cooper, who was standing on the vehicle’s passenger side, police said. Gordon was seated in the passenger seat and got out of the vehicle, police said.

Cooper jumped on top of Gordon and they fought while others tried to pull Cooper off Gordon, according to witnesses that include the woman, her friend who lives in the house where the stabbing occurred and Cooper’s brother, who was a passenger in Kyle Cooper’s vehicle at the time of the fight.

Defense attorney James Mertes grilled Day about what he said were inconsistencies in witness statements, and Gordon and the woman’s actions leading up to the stabbing.

Day acknowledged the woman and Cooper had been communicating with each other through calls and texts, while at the same time the woman said she wanted Cooper to leave her alone.

Surveillance footage also indicates that Cooper was sitting in a bar the night of Feb. 13 when Gordon and the woman entered the same bar. The woman in her statement said Gordon and Cooper had no physical contact in the bar; however, surveillance footage shows Gordon entering the bar and walking several feet directly to Cooper, Gordon hitting Cooper and others pulling Gordon off of him.

Mertes said a bartender made Gordon leave the bar, but several minutes later, he came back inside the bar and he and the woman stood inside for several minutes as the woman shouted at people, according to the surveillance footage.

Mertes also questioned Day about the couple’s movements throughout town that night and into the early morning hours, saying there were inconsistencies in the woman’s statements to police about when she and Gordon entered the bar and when she drove him in her car to go pick up his car at another location. That’s when he drove his vehicle back to her garage, and parked it there so it wouldn’t be vandalized, Day said.

Day also confirmed the woman and Gordon decided to go to the home on 20th Street to pick up a friend there and head out to play dice and cards. They drove by Cooper’s home, where he and his brother were outside, when Gordon rolled down his window and shouted a derogatory name at Cooper, Day acknowledged.

As the couple drove to the home on 20th Street, they were followed by Cooper, who was driving, and his brother. The Coopers followed the couple to the house and Kyle Cooper jumped out of his vehicle to confront them, Day said, citing witness statements.

Day testified a search warrant was issued for Cooper’s vehicle, where they found blood – on the steering wheel, gear shift and a napkin – and several knives. The woman’s car was not searched; it was driven back to the woman’s home later that day by the friend who lived at the residence where the fight occurred, Day said.

Mertes pressed Day about the need for that vehicle to be searched and wondered aloud why it had not been checked for weapons in light of what Mertes said were threatening messages Gordon sent to Cooper, including a photo of firearms.

Mertes questioned Day as to when the woman began drinking, which Day said was around noon Feb. 13. The woman was under the influence when she was interviewed although no tests were run to see what her blood alcohol content level was, Day confirmed under questioning.

After Simon and Mertes were done questioning Day, Heuerman said probable cause existed to try Cooper. His next hearing, a pretrial conference, is set for March 19, with a trial date tentatively set for April 8.