HOERIG TRIAL | 'I lost control of myself'

4:50

WARREN

The Claudia Hoerig aggravated murder trial has adjourned for the day following about three hours of testimony from the defendant. Cross examination will begin in the morning.

About two hours into her testimony today, Hoerig described her decision to kill herself when her husband, Karl, came home March 12, 2007, if Karl did not support her in her pregnancy.

As she discussed in an earlier videotaped interview with police, she testified to killing Karl when he refused to support the pregnancy.

About three hours into her testimony, she became emotional as she talked about her return to her native Brazil and her father telling her he loved her.

"It was the first time he ever said that in my life," she said.

At the end of questioning, she said she only killed Karl because of the things Karl said about how she should kill herself in the basement so she didn't get her blood on his paintings.

"I lost control of myself," she said.

Claudia Hoerig

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The Claudia Hoerig aggravated murder trial has adjourned for the day following about three hours of testimony from the defendant. Cross examination will begin in the morning. About two hours into her testimony today, Hoerig described her decision to kill herself when her husband, Karl, came home March 12, 2007, if Karl did not support her in her pregnancy. As she discussed in an earlier videotaped interview with police, she testified to killing Karl when he refused to support the pregnancy.

3:20 p.m.

WARREN

After close to 90 minutes of testimony from Claudia Hoerig, her aggravated murder trial in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court is now on break for 15 minutes.

Claudia, 54, who spoke with detectives for close to three hours the night she was returned to the United States to face trial in the murder of her husband, Karl in March 2007, has talked rapid-fire about meeting Karl on the Dating.com web site and the their marriage 50 days later in Las Vegas.

2:25 p.m.

WARREN

Claudia Hoerig has spent about 30 minutes on the witness stand, primarily talking so far about how she and her husband, Karl, met on Match.com and their marriage 50 days later in Las Vegas.

She is charged with aggravated murder in the March 12, 2007, shooting death of her husband in their Newton Falls home.

The couple decided to get married the first time they met in New York in 2005, she said. The testimony from questioning by one her lawyers, John Cornely, has repeatedly focused on her having paid for most of the things in their marriage, except the mortgage and electric.

But 30 days after they were married June 30, 2005, he announced he was leaving for three to four months to receive training to be a commercial pilot in Texas, leaving her in Newton Falls to take care of his son, then 16, whom she said is autistic. She said she did what Karl told her, even though she repeatedly said the marriage was not working out.

In the next section of her testimony, she went into detail about the sexual fetishes she said Karl had that were tied to television shows and internet web sites and his desire to act out things he saw. She said Karl could not engage in sexual conduct with her unless she participated on things like bondage.

He wanted her to engage group sex, but she refused, she said. Karl was controlling, she said. He picked out her clothing and requiring her to always wear open toed shoes. He required her to wear short skirts, silk blouses and high-heeled shoes when they were in public.

"I could not do anything," she said, comparing her life to being a Geisha. "He did not treat me like a human being."

At home in the evening, he allowed her only to wear high-heeled shoes and no clothing. He required her to sit near his feet and watch television with him, even though she had a good accounting job and needed to be rested for work, she said.

Claudia, a Brazilian native, had been around controlling men when she was growing up and put up with Karl's behavior because she thought she could fix him, she said, noting she liked psychology.

Many of the themes being discussed are the same ones that she talked about in the 2 1/2-hour videotape jurors watched last week, including his manipulations to cause her to lose multiple pregnancies.

Before the break, she started to discuss suicide attempts she had made, including one that involved taking 30 sleeping pills and driving a car, passing out and driving into a ditch Feb. 7, 2007, about a month before she is accused of killing Karl. She spent time in a psychiatric ward after that suicide attempt, she said.

1:40 p.m.

WARREN

Claudia Hoerig has been called to testify in her aggravated murder trial as the first defense witness.

The trial could not start this morning because Judge Andrew Logan, who is presiding over the case in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, had hearings in about 30 other cases througout the morning.

Prosecutors rested their case Friday after hearing from a substitute forensic pathologist and three pilots in the U.S. Air Force Reserves who served in the military with Claudia’s husband, Maj. Karl Hoerig. Claudia is accused of killing her husband in their Newton Falls home March 12, 2007.

Ella Johnson of Newton Falls and Barbara Silver of Jamaica, New York are also on the witness list for the defense.

12 p.m.

WARREN — Two women are scheduled to testify on Claudia Hoerig’s behalf when Hoerig’s aggravated murder trial resumes at 1 p.m. today, but it’s unknown whether Hoerig will also take the stand.

The trial cannot start until 1 p.m. because Judge Andrew Logan, who is presiding over the case in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, will have hearings in about 30 other cases in the morning.

Prosecutors rested their case Friday after hearing from a substitute forensic pathologist and three pilots in the U.S. Air Force Reserves who served in the military with Claudia’s husband, Maj. Karl Hoerig.

Claudia is accused of killing her husband in their Newton Falls home March 12, 2007.

Among the three was Krista Bridges, who testified that she and Claudia were sitting next to each other at a bachelorette party in Cleveland for another woman, and someone told a funny story about Karl.

Bridges said Claudia leaned over to her and said of Karl: “If he ever leaves me, I’ll kill him.”

Bridges said that when she learned Karl had died, “That’s the first thing that came to my mind,” but she did not tell investigators about the incident until March 2018, a few months after Claudia was returned to the United States for trial.

Defense attorney John Cornely asked Bridges on cross examination whether Bridges and her friends want “justice for Karl,” and she agreed they do.

Testifying on Claudia’s behalf today will be Ella Johnson of Newton Falls and Barbara Silver of Jamaica, New York.

In his opening statement, Cornely told jurors they will “hear from” Claudia during the trial, but it’s possible he only meant they would hear her 2-1/2-hour videotaped interview with detectives. She gave the interview the night she was returned to the United States Jan. 17, 2018.