Windows

Closing argument of prosecutor David Tellman to the jury.

• CalDOJ criminalist, Lou Maucieri was not honest in his 2008 trial testimony—the proof is in his own field notes and reports from 1982. At the rear of the Kovacich home, in a hidden area behind a retaining wall and under the deck, the dining room had a large three piece picture window, with sliding screened portions on each side of a fixed center. 

• Someone had broken the lower corner portion of the glass on one of the sliding sections (near the lock), presumably while prying it open to enter the house. The intruder replaced the screen when he left, making the damage difficult to see.

• Tellman knew that two CalDOJ photographers had been at the scene, and taken photos of the broken window, and the pried screens—but he refused to turn the photos over to the defense, despite several written demands. The jury never saw the broken window, and were left believing that the forced entry never existed.

•The focus on Paul introduced bias into Maucieri's work, and explained his failure to follow the field manual that he himself wrote. 

• Maucieri did not collect the broken glass, window, screens, or even fingerprints from the items—in violation of his own procedures. 

• A review of the transcript of Maucieri's taped notes from the scene, his edited copy, and his final report shows how he changed his “opinion” of the broken window after APD Boon and PCSO Smith told him to focus on evidence that pointed to Paul Kovacich, and away from a stranger abduction. 

• DeAngelo’s window entry method, and his marking of aluminum window screens were listed as one of the most unique and consisten MO points for the EAR. Maucieri’s residence was five blocks from the EAR attack on May 28, 1977, and he became the Supervisor of the Sacramento field laboratory in 1975. In that position, he was supervising and training the criminalists who responded to the EAR scenes in the cities of Sacramento, Davis, Stockton, and in Contra Costa County. 

• There is no way that Maucieri failed to recognize the EAR MO when he saw the broken window at Forest Court. Unfortunately he felt that his job was to “help” law enforcement make their case, and he did not follow the evidence. 

• Operating as the “East Area Rapist,” Auburn PD Officer DeAngelo was noted to be well-skilled at forced entry into victim’s residences.

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

Julia:  “There was also evidence he was very good at entering homes.” 

Larry: “Through either prying a regular door, a sliding door, removing screens from windows, prying windows, opening windows.”

• One of the most common techniques he employed to enter an otherwise secure home was to remove the window screen, make a small hole in a window near the latch, and then insert a tool to flip the latch. 

• In the course of more than fifty case files, this specific technique of the EAR was very well documented, including  photographs.

EAR Attack :  December 2, 1978 

Kesey Lane – San Jose, CA

Written Reports of San Jose P.D. 

EAR Attack :  March 8, 1977 

Thornwood Drive – Sacramento, CA

Written Reports of Sacramento Sheriff's Department 

EAR Attack :  October 29, 1977 

Woodson Ave – Sacramento, CA

Written Reports of Sacramento Sheriff's Department 

EAR Attack :  November 10, 1976 

Greenleaf Drive – Sacramento, CA

Written Reports of Sacramento Sheriff's Department 

This is how EAR Task Force member Paul Holes described the EAR’s window entry technique in the November 10, 1976 kidnapping:

“In this case, what’s striking is the sophistication of how he broke in. It looks like he tried the side door. He comes out front. There’s a window on the dining room. He punches out a small hole in the window so he can push the latch and then gets in that way. Was he good? He was good.”

and, SSD Inspector Richard Shelby’s description of the same event:

“Entry into the home was gained by first breaking a small corner of window glass. Then bending the window pane back just far enough to reach in, he flipped open the lock. How he managed to break just a small corner of glass, without breaking the whole window, is another mystery.”