New Memories

•In 1982, Janet’s former co-worker, Karen Meredith, was the only person other than Jean Gregoire who claimed to have spoken to Janet about Fuzz prior her disappearance:

• On March 14, 2005, Karen Meredith was re-interviewed by APD Jerry Johnson. He really tried to get her to change her “memory” of the conversation, or at least be less certain, but Meredith did not budge:

• Suddenly, two days later, APD Johnson had a new witness, Gail Easter. 

• Miraculously... Gail remembered talking to Janet at the same picnic Meredith mentioned, but claimed that Janet told her a completely different story:

• In her interview of March 16, 2005, Gail Easter provided exactly two details:  1) Janet told her directly that Paul had beat and kicked Fuzz to death; and, 2) that Paul then “tried to say”  the dog was poisoned. 

• The second detail was particularly strange because the veterinarian’s original treatment notes from August 22, 1982, clearly  mention poison; Dr. Hershenhouse took a toxicology sample; and, she charged for a home inspection to search for the source of the poison. 

• Dr. Hershenhouse also gave that same information to PCSO Milam in 1982. Paul wasn’t at the vet’s office, or at Forest Court during Dr. Hershenhouse’s visit—he never discussed Fuzz with the vet. Paul’s only knowledge of Fuzz’s cause of death was second hand, as reported to him by Janet. It was never Paul who “tried to say the dog was poisoned,” it was the treating veterinarian.

• Gail Easter was not a friend of Janet, and she had never come forward with any statement prior to 2005. In 1982, she was employed by PCSO, and her husband was a PCSO deputy. At that time, Paul was the commander of the department’s K-9 program, and Fuzz was a PCSO K-9. 

• It appears that Jerry Johnson didn’t truly believe her story, because he very carefully avoided asking her for information which could corroborate her statement. Johnson didn’t ask Gail Easter if she had told her husband, or whether either of them had reported Paul to the Sheriff for supposedly killing a K-9 in 1982. In fact, both Ken and Gail Easter had a legal duty to inform PSCO of any crimes personally reported to them. Nothing like that ever happened. Johnson should have been trying to confirm Easter’s statement with a 1982 report from the PCSO files—but he didn’t.

• Once Janet disappeared, the claimed statement by Janet at the picnic would have become material evidence in the case, but again—neither Ken nor Gail contacted anyone at PCSO or Auburn PD about Gail’s supposed conversation with Janet. 

• Easter did not share her story with her best friend, Christine Milam, whose husband was actively investigating Jean Gregoire's story, and a possible animal cruelty charge. It is simply not believable that Gail Easter did not tell anyone the story for 23 years, and then suddenly “remembered” it on the exact same day that Meredith refused to change her statement, and immediately after the “kicking” and “poisoning” details were printed in the Sacramento Bee:

•The other odd thing about Gail Easter’s statement is that the details about Fuzz are the only thing she remembered about the day. In her short statement to Johnson, Easter said that she didn’t remember corroborating details seven different times. Easter also said that Chris Milam heard the conversation with Janet, and remembered it, but Chris denied that in her own interview with Johnson.

•The first thing that Johnson did after taking Easter’s statement was to contact the Sacramento Bee reporter, Art Campos, and have Art contact John Kovacich and tell him that there was a “new witness” to the Fuzz story, and then Johnson listened to the family discuss it on the wiretaps he had placed on their phones:

3/15/2005 — APD Wiretap Summary Parties:  "Kristi to Paul"

Kristi ends the call telling Paul that John told her that Art Campos left a message on Johns phone that there was credible source about the dog story and that he wanted his permission to run the rest of his interview. Paul down played the dog story and focused on a lack of credibility on the information law enforcement had given Art.

•Johnson’s immediate action not only makes Easter’s statement generally more suspicious, but it raises the question of whether or not she was specifically planted as part of the CalDOJ plan to wiretap John and Kristi “after misinformation to kids.”

•Whatever Art Campos was doing fell far, far outside journalistic ethics. It was bad enough that he seemed to publish whatever law enforcement fed him with no fact-checking or investigative reporting, but he clearly let himself get directly involved in feeding misinformation to Janet’s children. His behavior calls into question the truth of every story he published in the Bee. 

•It is hardly surprising that, immediately after Paul Kovacich was convicted—with a lot of help from Campos, he became the Public Information Officer for the Placer County District Attorney’s Office. It looked like a reward for Campos’ direct and indirect assistance with the “misinformation” plan, and getting out the DA’s side of the case to the public. 

• After working at the DA’s office, Campos seemed to disappear—but, it turned out that he just switched back to using his actual surname (Pereira), then retired as a California State Corrections Officer.