Janet Kovacich had been missing for more than two decades before the trial for her murder began. But through a journal she wrote in 1981, she provided the words that prosecutors say helped convict her husband, a former Placer County sheriff's sergeant, of first-degree murder.
Paul Kovacich Jr., 59, is to be sentenced today. He faces 27 years to life imprisonment. Public defender John Spurling said his client maintains his wife's disappearance was always a mystery to him and plans to appeal the verdict.
Janet Kovacich's journal contained the loving words of a mother about her children, which convinced jurors that she could never have abandoned her daughter, Kristi, and her son, John – then 7 and 5 – by killing herself or leaving, prosecutors said.
"I want to go on living for Kristi and John," the Auburn homemaker wrote a year and a half before she vanished on Sept. 8, 1982, just a week before her 28th birthday. "I guess I feel like if I wasn't around no one else could take care of them like me. Or could love them as I love them."
Her journal, written during a weekend Catholic seminar for couples to improve their marriages, also described her love for her husband, her feelings of being controlled by him and her desire and struggles to salvage their marriage.
It mentioned the tensions between her husband and parents, Leo and Jean Gregoire. Prosecutors said the feud strained a rocky marriage.
"I just can't bear to see the three people I love so much in my life hating, and hurting one another," she wrote.
In his journal, also written during the weekend seminar, Paul Kovacich described his mother-in-law as evil, sick, ruthless and bent on destroying their marriage.
"Your mother makes me sick," Paul Kovacich wrote. Both parents opposed their relationship.
In a case built largely on circumstantial evidence, Suzanne Gazzaniga, Placer County senior deputy district attorney, said the journals helped to "paint the big picture" for jurors.
Jurors were also presented with other evidence, such as testimonies from witnesses about the derogatory and abusive way Paul Kovacich treated his wife, and his nonchalant demeanor when she disappeared, Gazzaniga said.
However, the journals never revealed any incidents of physical abuse – a point that Spurling said was corroborated by Kristi Kovacich, who testified for the defense that she never saw her father hit her mother.
"He could not hurt a mouse!" Kristi Kovacich said in a recent letter to the judge. "He has always been the most kind, loving and caring father and human being."
She said she is disturbed by rumors in the community that her father told her and her brother that their mother did not love them and left.
"My dad always spoke kindly of my mom and he never said anything bad about her," Kristi Kovacich wrote.
In his journal, Paul Kovacich said he liked his wife's generosity, compassion and cooking, but detested her nagging. He also wrote about his feelings for her.
"Seriously, my love for you is like a cherry in a whiskey sour, or a lump of sugar in a cup of coffee," Paul Kovacich wrote.
Kristi Kovacich said in court that the family kept the same post office box address and telephone number, even when they moved, so their mother could contact them. Defense attorney John Spurling said his client always hoped Janet Kovacich was still alive.
The four-month trial involved more than 75 witnesses and more than 750 marked exhibits.
Witnesses for the prosecution said weeks before Janet's Kovacich's disappearance, she had been inquiring about divorce attorneys and taking steps to gain independence. She had enrolled in classes at Sierra College. A week before she disappeared, she underwent breast augmentation surgery to improve her looks.
On the day of her disappearance, she made an 11:10 a.m. appointment at Forest Lake Christian School, where she planned to transfer her children. Paul Kovacich said they had argued about getting a divorce that morning.
Janet Kovacich never made it to the appointment, nor did she call to cancel it, prosecutors said. However, the defense argued that it is not clear that she didn't call and cancel.
On Sept. 20, 1995, a judge ruled that she died the day of her disappearance.
A month later, two hikers walking on the dry lake bottom of Rollins Lake near Colfax spotted a partially buried, weathered human skull.
In early 2007, sophisticated DNA technology determined there was "a near statistical certainty" that the skull belonged to Janet Kovacich.
"As with any missing body cold case, the strongest hope for solving the mystery of Janet's disappearance was that her remains would turn up somewhere in the world, and then be confirmed through DNA analysis," prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Public Defender Michael Sganga said prosecutors weaved together a coherent story that made it easy for jurors to digest. But reality, he said, doesn't always provide an explanation.
"I never figured out what happened to Janet, even after reviewing tens of thousands of pages of documents, including all the inadmissible evidence," Sganga said. "Paul always said that he didn't know what happened."
Leo and Jean Gregoire went to their grave – Leo in 2001 and Jean in 2004 – still searching for their daughter, said their son, Gary Gregoire.
"One of the last things my mother used to say to me was, 'Remember Janet, always remember Janet,' " he said.
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