Kovacich Family

Janet Gregoire and Paul Kovacich met at Boreal Ski Resort in November, 1970 while they were both working as members of the ski patrol. Janet was a junior at San Juan High School in Citrus Heights, and Paul was a senior at Sacramento State University. Janet’s parents were opposed to the relationship because of the age difference, and the fact that Paul was Catholic. Although the Gregoires took Janet out-of-state for the summer of 1971, and bought her a new car as an “incentive” to stay away from Paul, they continued to see each other secretly. 

•In the fall of 1972, Paul took a position leading the ski patrol at Boreal, and Janet dropped out of Sierra College to join him. After the ski season, Paul took an offer from the Tracy Police Department to send him to the police academy, and Janet got a job working for a local optometrist.  Paul and Janet married on August 4, 1973 in a small ceremony with friends. Janet’s family did not attend. 

•In November 1974, Paul took a job as a deputy with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Their daughter, Kristi, was born in 1975, and a son, John, followed in 1976. The family lived in the Auburn area and a weekend ski cabin at Cisco Grove. For the next few years, Janet balanced raising the children with occasional part-time office work, and classes at Sierra College.

 •In June of 1979, the family moved into a new home at 244 Forest Court in Auburn. It was at the end of a safe cul-de-sac, with a fenced wooded backyard for the kids, and Paul’s two K-9s, Adolph and Fuzz. 

•In January of 1980, Paul was promoted to Sergeant and assigned to the Lake Tahoe station. Paul stayed at their ski cabin on his work days, and with the family at Forest Court in Auburn on his off days.  Paul and Janet looked at homes in Tahoe, but eventually Paul asked for a transfer to the Placer County Jail facility in Auburn, and the family was back together at Forest Court in November, 1981. Less than a year later, Janet disappeared from the house.