Parole denied for ex-Placer County cop convicted in cold case murder of his wife
A former Placer County sheriff’s sergeant convicted in one of the capital region’s most notorious murder cases was denied parole Thursday, the prosecutor who handled his case said.
Paul Kovacich Jr., 76, was convicted in 2009 in the decades-old killing of his wife, Janet Kovacich, who disappeared from their Auburn home in 1982 after an argument, authorities said.
The case was solved years later through DNA evidence, along with the exhumation of the family dog, which prosecutors said Kovacich had kicked and beaten to death. Investigators used the evidence to identify a skull found years later as Janet Kovacich’s remains.
“He has done nothing to change his controlling and abusive ways,” said Placer County Chief Assistant District Attorney David Tellman, who prosecuted the original case and argued against Kovacich’s release at the hearing. “That’s why we objected to his release.”
Kovacich’s parole hearing came amid heightened scrutiny of California’s early release programs for inmates.
In September, the California Board of Parole Hearings decided that a man serving three life sentences for kidnapping, raping, and beating Sacramento-area children in the 1990s should be freed, prompting an uproar.
David Allen Funston, now 64, remains in custody only because Placer County filed new charges earlier this month in a previously unprosecuted case.
In November, the board granted parole to Gregory Lee Vogelsang, who was convicted in August 1999 of more than two dozen child molestation and kidnapping charges involving five boys. Amid backlash over Funston’s case, the board last week moved to reconsider Vogelsang’s release.
Now 57, Vogelsang has served 27 years of a 355-years-to-life sentence and is housed at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, state records show.
Kovacich, who is housed at the California Institution for Men in Chino, has served 17 years of a 27-years-to-life sentence. He has maintained his innocence, and his daughter wrote a letter to the parole board supporting his release, Tellman said.
Kovacich was denied parole after a three-hour hearing — his parole will not be considered again for five years, Tellman said. Although he is 76, he was not eligible for the state’s “elderly parole” program, under which Funston and Vogelsang were found suitable for release, he said.
Under California law, prisoners seeking parole may not be penalized for failing to admit wrongdoing, so Kovacich’s claim of innocence was not used against him, Tellman said.
But because Kovacich refused to participate in rehabilitative programs while in prison, the board ruled that he poses an unreasonable risk of violence if released, Tellman said.
Among those opposing his release was Janet Kovacich’s brother, Gary Gregoire, Tellman said.
“He talked about how Paul was abusive to Janet ... and how she was afraid of him,” Tellman said. “How Paul tried to intimidate him ... and how he’s afraid that Paul hasn’t changed and shouldn’t be released.”
