Motive to Hurt Paul Kovacich

FBI True ( S2:Ep. 9 ), FBI Analyst Julia Cowley and Orange County cold case Investigator Larry Pool:

Julia: “In my initial assessment, I thought he was a very insecure individual, that this was the ultimate overcompensation for his lack of confidence. And his feelings of ineffectiveness, he’s very ritualistic in what he did. And he did it the same way almost every single time. He would put fragile items on the doorknobs so that if people came home, he would hear them and he’d be able to escape. And once he spent a lot of time doing this, he’d separate the female victim from the male. I think to mitigate any risk that the male victim was going to try to intervene. In my opinion, the victim selection was really about the male victim. This is a man who wanted to dominate other men. 

“And this was a way that he could exert his control and take over their home… It was all of the behavior he exhibited in front of his victims when he tried to portray this big, tough, scary individual in control. And from then on out, he’s taken the ultimate control, which is to murder them.” 

Larry:  “My thoughts were everything that she described was consistent with my feelings at the time. As you take all those elements into consideration, it gives you a better chance of being able to solve the investigation.” 

• The one question that no investigator ever asked when Janet disappeared was: 

“Did anyone have a grudge or revenge motive to get back at Paul Kovacich by killing one of his K-9s, taking his wife, and making him look guilty by being the last person to see her?” 

That question was never investigated.

• Auburn PD Chief Willick knew that DeAngelo was upset about several incidents where he felt that he was treated unfairly, and blamed others—including wanting Willick dead.

• Willick never checked to see if two of the officers that DeAngelo blamed for “making him look bad” were Paul Kovacich and his K-9. 

• The answer was obvious on a first read of the Kovacich case file. Included was Paul Kovacich’s entire PCSO employment history—from his initial job application to his retirement. He had several commendations and letters of appreciation from community members, but one from February of 1979 immediately stood out. It was from an Auburn PD officer who had worked on an arrest with Paul and K-9 Adolph:

He had several commendations and letters of appreciation from community members, but one from February of 1979 immediately stood out, ****from an Auburn PD officer who had worked on an arrest with Paul and dog Adolph****:”

•What is unusual about that letter isn't that Paul and Adolph did a good job, it is APD officer Adams’ criticism of his own department’s failure to catch Mitcham:  “we would not have apprehended Mitcham,” and, he might have “caused great bodily harm to the inhabitants.” 

• It is clear from the tone that one or more APD officers likely had far less flattering letters placed in their employment files, or at least unpleasant conversations about their bad policing. 

•Everyone who described DeAngelo after his arrest said that he couldn’t handle the tiniest bit of criticism or disagreement without turning it into seething anger, and the threat of violence. 

• That seemed like a lead that clearly should have been checked out, especially since the Kovacich house was so close to the location where DeAngelo was known to have stalked Willick and his family. (1,400 feet, separated only by the Sisters of Mercy)

APD Chief Robert Hensley added his own cover letter:

•Receiving a commendation from APD would have been a big deal for Paul and Adolph within the law enforcement community, and even with the local public who heard about it, but the accolades made the front page of the Auburn Journal, and a story in the Sacramento Bee:

FRONT PAGE NEWS February 12, 1979

•The Sacramento Bee article should have told investigators the entire story. Paul and Adolph got named as heroes in a splashy article (by Auburn PD standards), but an unnamed APD officer arrested Mitcham the day before and somehow let him back on the street to threaten the victim and smash windows. What if that officer believed that he did a good job, and should have received the commendation and front page news coverage?

•The only way to know which APD officer had arrested Mitcham a few hours before he was caught by Paul and Adolph was to get the APD reports from that day, and that meant having them pulled from the microfilm records and redacted by an APD officer for an unrelated “research project.” The answer was always obvious:

Statement by Millard R. Jackson 2-9-79

To Auburn Police Dept.

On the above date Sam Mitcham came into our store bothering my daughter who is a clerk here and was ask to leave. When he did not do so the Police was called and he left. We talked to [APD REDACTED] and was told not to return to the store. After [APD REDACTED] left, he returned to the store again. 1 1/2 to 2 hours later and when he would not leave the Police were called again. I put him out of the store again but he returned and became violent. He pushed me trying to break down the door to get to my daughter. When the Police arrived, he pushed me again and also my wife trying to break down the back door. He also pushed the Police Officer trying to get to the back door. The officer had to drag him out the front door to get him out.

                                    /S/ Millard R. Jackson

•The fact that Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was the unnamed, uncelebrated, and “at fault” APD officer who had arrested Mitcham was not a surprise. However it’s clear that his upset would have been magnified by the circumstances. In DeAngelo's report he painted himself as a hero—he saved the girl, single-handedly wrestled the suspect away from the scene and into his car, and sacrificed himself by sustaining bite and kick injuries during the arrest. 

• Mitcham was immediately released from jail, and he went straight to the Jackson home. APD were called to the scene, but they were unable to catch Mitcham as he proceeded to smash windows and vandalize property for several hours. 

•Paul Kovacich and his K-9 Adolph were called to assist in the search, and captured Mitcham within minutes.

•DeAngelo's booking sheet for Mitcham raised more questions:

•DeAngelo booked Mitcham at 3:00 pm on a Friday afternoon, and specifcially asked that he not be released due to the immediate danger he posed to the victim. Based upon the assault on a police officer, and resisting arrest, Mitcham should have been held in jail until a judge could set conditions of release on Monday. 

•No matter what happened at the jail, there is no question that DeAngelo would have felt that he was the true hero of the story, and should have had the news headlines and commendation on his record. He would have been angry that Mitcham was released from jail against his booking request, and that Paul Kovacich and Adolph got all of the credit after he was injured trying to keep Mitcham off the street. 

• DeAngelo later claimed an occupational injury during the Mitcham arrest, and while being evaluated for the “stress” portion of the claim, he told the psychologist that Willick had overworked him, treated him unfairly, and fired him without cause. The psychologist warned Willick that DeAngelo voiced plans to take revenge for these wrongs, and kill Willick. DeAngelo’s brother-in-law, Jim Huddle, confirmed hearing the same statements, and was also concerned. (See next page re: Willick)

•DeAngelo is infamous for responding to statements that he took as some kind of challenge to his skills as a criminal, or his masculinity. After the Sacramento Bee quoted SSD as saying “he has never attacked with a man in the house,” DeAngelo changed his EAR M.O. to only couples. 

• When a local man chided SSD Shelby at a neighborhood meeting for not catching the EAR, and stated that in his native Italy men would never allow their wives to be hurt, DeAngelo waited six months, and then attacked the man and his wife. After DeAngelo's arrest, more details came out about his mindset and behavior towards other men:

Los Angeles Times, Sunday, December 22, 2019

•Victor Hayes was correct—something is very, very wrong with the order that came down within Auburn PD to “halt” the search for connections between DeAngelo, and crimes he may have committed in Auburn. 

- How far did they get before they realized that they were in danger of overturning Paul Kovacich's conviction? 

- Did someone at Auburn PD suddenly realize who it was that killed Fuzz, and let Adolph out of the yard the night before Janet disappeared? 

• It seems obvious that an APD officer who had worked with Adolph, but was fired before Fuzz joined the K-9s, would need to feed or poison Fuzz to get past him in the Kovacich yard, but could walk right up to Adolph. 

•DeAngelo would have preferred to commit attacks on women that did not directly involve men. His response to confrontations with other men generally was to just shoot them. Based on his confessed crimes, by 1982 DeAngelo had shot Claude Snelling, Agent Bill McGowen, Rodney Miller, Brian Maggiore, Dr. Offerman, and Greg Sanchez. 

FBI True ( S2:Ep. 9 ), FBI Analyst Julia Cowley:  “When he was confronted with a life-or-death situation, where he would have to get into a physical fight with an able-bodied, competent male, he immediately went to deadly force and that was with a gun. And he was very good at using a gun, very accurate, able to hit his target in a high-stress situation. And I ended up telling the working group that I thought he had some sort of formal firearms training.” 

•From June 1976-April 1977, DeAngelo carefully waited for his victims to be alone before kidnapping and/or attacking them. He had only displayed a gun once—when the victim fought back. After he felt that SSD had taunted him with the challenge to attack with a man in the house, DeAngelo led with his gun, and immediate threats to kill. He piled dishes on the mens’ backs, and checked on them every few minutes. 

•Eventually that control wasn’t enough. Couples had heard of the EAR, and planned to fight back. After he got into direct confrontations with men in Danville, and the first two attacks in Goleta, he started killing everyone, and his two homicides in Irvine were back to single females who had been left alone for the night.

•Paul Kovacich is 6' 2", and he won most events at the yearly “police olympics.” He was  a trained sergeant who had patrolled alone around Tahoe for years, and he supervised the Placer County Jail. Kovacich carried a gun, was trained to use it, and had two K-9 officers in his yard at home. If DeAngelo had wanted to get revenge on Paul, he would not have risked confronting him directly. However, killing Paul’s dog and wife, and framing him for it would have been safer, and given him a way to get revenge on Willick and Auburn PD in the process. Janet’s disappearance made the community seem unsafe, and the police look totally incompetent. 

In addition to stalking Nick Willick, DeAngelo prowled at the home of SSD Detective Richard Shelby, and committed EAR attacks near his house while Shelby was assigned to the case:

•DeAngelo’s obsession with other members of law enforcement was not confined to Willick and Shelby. In Tulare County, he attacked the next door neighbors of a CHP supervisor, and the public information officer for the Tulare County Sheriff's Office. DeAngelo also broke into the home of a TCSO deputy assigned to solve some of DeAngelo’s cases, and stole the service revolver and watch from his nightstand as the deputy and his wife slept.

•DeAngelo made taunting phone calls saying he was about to strike in Visalia and Sacramento—using both recorded phone lines and non-recorded backline numbers.  He sent an unknown number of letters to law enforcement and the press bragging that he couldn’t be caught. The poem “Excitement’s Crave” was the only writing released to the public. In one phone call, DeAngelo directly responded to a comment made about him in the Sacramento Bee:

•Apparently, DeAngelo didn’t mind being called a violent rapist, but he was extremely upset that the psychiatrist said he was “careful.” There is absolutely no question that DeAngelo read everything printed about him whether it was as a police officer, burglar, rapist, or murderer—and he responded.

• Usually, as soon as the police made a public statement about him, he immediately responded with another burglary, attack, or homicide—often within 12 hours of the story’s publication. 

• Given DeAngelo’s consistent and immediate responses to other stories about his crimes in the Bee, it’s safe to say he read that story as soon as the paper was published on March 13, 1980. 

• It’s important to note:  DeAngelo was still living in the house on Granite Lane in Auburn, but he immediately drove 420 miles (six hours) to Highpoint Drive in Ventura, and killed Charlene and Lyman Smith before 6 am the next morning. 

• DeAngelo was clearly sending a message to SSD Root and Bevins, but they either missed it, or intentionally pretended not to notice.