BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- In a surprise move, a Middletown woman accused of helping her son get rid of a 34-year-old woman's body parts withdrew her motion Monday to have her $1 million bond reduced.
"I don't care if I get out of jail really," Ellen Peck told Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage.
Her lawyer, Vincent Sanzone, said the motion was withdrawn because he and prosecutors are discussing a possible plea bargain. Ms. Peck is the mother of James Lee Lawson, 29, of Middletown, who is the prime suspect in the murder of Cheryl Ann Durkin. She faces two felony charges of obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence. The two charges carry a possible 10-year prison sentence.
Mr. Lawson, who is the target of a nationwide search, is suspected of killing Ms. Durkin around Feb. 25.
In mid-April, her torso was found in the Great Miami River in Hamilton. Police arrested Ms. Peck, 46, after she and another relative led them to Ms. Durkin's buried body parts in Preble County and Indiana. After the hearing, Mr. Sanzone said he did not understand why Ms. Peck told the judge she doesn't care if she's released from jail. "I don't know where that came from," he said.
Ms. Durkin's sister, Karla Edwards of Madison Township, said she was pleased that Ms. Peck withdrew her motion for a lower bond.
"I was shocked," she said. "I don't want her on the streets."
Before the hearing, Ms. Peck appeared to stare at Mrs. Edwards and other relatives of Ms. Durkin who were seated a short distance from her.
"She kept staring me in the eye," Mrs. Edwards said. "She had no remorse."
Ms. Durkin's relatives all wore buttons bearing an illustration of an angel holding a red flower, with the words "Guardian Angel" above her and "In Memory of Cheryl Durkin" beside her.
The angel had been drawn by Ms. Durkin. She mailed the drawing to her mother last year from a drug rehabilitation facility in Florida where she was battling a drug addiction.
"She asked me to have my church pray over the drawing," said Ms. Durkin's mother, Dorothy Bond, who lives in Dreyfus, a small Kentucky town near Berea. "Then she wanted me to send it back to her so that she would be strong when she came out of the drug center."
Initially, they ordered 48 buttons for family and friends. But the demand for them prompted them to have an additional 96 made. Authorities think they know what area Mr. Lawson is in, said Chief Deputy Rick Jones of the Butler County Sheriff's Department.
"We have the police in that area searching for him," said Mr. Jones, who declined to name the area.
The sheriff's department continues to receive phone calls from people offering possible leads to Mr. Lawson's whereabouts. "He's on the move, but he can't hide," Mr. Jones said.
People with information about Mr. Lawson should call the sheriff's department at 887-3010.
Ms. Durkin's relatives have distributed copies of Mr. Lawson's "wanted" posters in central Kentucky.
Ms. Durkin is never far from their hearts -- especially when they're wearing the angel buttons.
"We'll wear our buttons," Mrs. Edwards said, "until he's caught and his trial is over."
