Man convicted of murder in 2008 disappearance of Krista Lueth

LANSING — A man was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in connection with the death of a Michigan State University graduate student who disappeared without a trace 15 years ago.

An Ingham County Circuit Court jury deliberated only a few hours after a two-week trial before convicting Krista Lueth's ex-boyfriend, Brad Cournaya, of killing her in 2008. Her body has never been found.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without chance of parole. Judge Joyce Draganchuk set sentencing for Aug. 28.

"Murder cases without a body are uncommon, very difficult to prove and face increased evidentiary challenges," Ingham County Proseuetor John Dewane said in a statement. "Speaking from experience, a murder trial without a recovered body is one of the most difficult and complex prosecution of all. However, in this case, forensic and circumstantial evidence were enough to overcome the absence of a physical body."

A prosecutor told jurors on Monday morning that the evidence clearly showed Lueth met her end at the hands of Cournaya, a jilted lover who he said relentlessly pursued her and was obsessed with getting back together with her.

"There is only one conclusion (to draw) beyond a reasonable doubt, and, tragically, that conclusion is that Krista Lueth is dead," Deputy Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Bill Crino said during closing arguments in Cournaya's trial on a murder charge. "We don’t know the mechanism; we do not have to prove that ... We only need to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant committed an act that caused Krista Lueth's death."

Defense attorney Keith Watson told jurors authorities failed to prove Cournaya was involved in Lueth's disappearance.

"How is the prosecutor supposed to show those things without any evidence, without physical evidence that provides you with those answers? Where is this intentional or premeditated death supposed to have taken place? ... Don't you want to know specifics so you can be convinced that you are doing the right thing?"

Lueth was a 34-year-old botany graduate student at Michigan State University and worked for a company that did contract work for the Ingham County Drain Commissioner's office, building rain gardens. She had a full load of classes at MSU and also attended a weekly urban gardening class at Hunter Park in Lansing, not far from her apartment on Eureka Street. Her presumed death was declared a homicide in 2009.

Cournaya, now 56, was not charged in connection with her disappearance until January 2021, more than six years after Michigan State Police had publicly named him as the sole suspect in the investigation.

Cournaya is serving a 16- to 40-year sentence stemming from a 2017 human trafficking and commercial sex case in Ingham County. Authorities said he showed a child an obscene photo of himself and a sex video, and also showed her messages on his phone asking if she wanted to make money.

The jury in his murder case was not told of Cournaya's criminal history.

Cellphone data indicates Lueth vanished sometime between 5:11 p.m. and 8:03 p.m. on Nov. 11, Crino said. She had been to her two classes at MSU that day but never made it to her urban gardening class that evening.

She had ended her relationship with Cournaya on Nov. 6, 2008 after discovering he had "stolen" her credit card and used it to pay more than $200 in charges for a telephone sex line call or calls, the prosecutor said.

Months after Lueth disappeared, investigators recovered her state ID card, debit card and her cellphone, broken into several pieces, along southbound U.S. 127 at College Road, in the spot where Cournaya's truck had broken down on the night Lueth disappeared. Investigators found records showing an Ingham County Sheriff's deputy had stopped to help him on the side of the freeway and called for a tow truck.

The ID card and bank card were found in the grass along the right shoulder of the freeway, almost directly across the southbound lanes from where the phone pieces were found in the median, investigators testified.

The case was investigated over 13 years by four teams from the state police. Cournaya was interviewed several times, the first time on Nov. 19, 2008. He gave only vague information about his whereabouts around the time Lueth disappeared and described his break-up with her as amicable.

Cournaya borrowed his mother's vehicle on Nov. 12, the night after Lueth vanished, and when he picked his mother up from work that afternoon, it was caked with mud, according to testimony.

Cell phone data showed numerous contacts between Cournaya and Lueth on the day she went missing, including a dozen contacts between 3:57 p.m. and 5:11 p.m.

Crino said the evidence shows an angry Cournaya was "relentlessly" contacting Lueth, who had dumped him just five days earlier. He wrote messages to her professing his undying love and begged for her to give him another chance, the prosecutor said.

Cellphone mapping data indicates Cournaya was laying in wait for Lueth at or near her home on Nov. 11, he said.

Watson said the prosecution's case was based on "supposition" and "theory," not convincing proof.

"How can you prove (something) beyond a reasonable doubt if you can't explain where something occurred, when something occurred, how something occurred?" he argued. "We just don't know, and because we just don’t know, those unanswered questions are reasonable doubt. We don’t always get the end of the story to satisfy us as to what really occurred."

The jury began deliberating on Monday afternoon. Jurors were allowed to consider a second-degree murder option, as well as first-degree murder or not guilty of either.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Man convicted of murder in 2008 disappearance of Krista Lueth