Man convicted of killing S.V. woman confesses to another killing
Connie SkipitaresMediaNews
A 52-year-old inmate serving two life sentences for separate homicides has confessed to the cold case killing of 19-year-old Cupertino resident Linda Ann Jozovich, who vanished while taking a break from a Santa Clara Mervyn's department store in 1979.
Terry Childs, currently incarcerated in Salinas Valley State Prison for brutally slaying a woman in Santa Cruz and another in Nevada, told Santa Clara County Sheriff's detectives on Oct. 12 from prison that he beat Jozovich senseless, then strangled and stabbed her repeatedly before dumping her body in a remote spot in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Prosecutors filed a murder complaint Thursday against Childs for killing Jozovich, almost 28 years to the day she was last seen alive.
For more than 15 years, her family had no idea what happened to her. Then in 1995, a hiker found what turned out to be her lower jaw bone and pieces of some ribs near Lexington Reservoir. More remains -- a skull and upper jaw -- were found nearby in 2004.
Charles Constantinides, Santa Clara County deputy district attorney, said Childs had been questioned in the past on at least two occasions by authorities, once by Santa Cruz County sheriff's detectives and about three years ago by Santa Clara County detectives. He gave some information about the murder, but not enough to convince them that he had committed the crime.
"We had discussed the case a lot. We had gotten nowhere," Constantinides said of conversations he and detectives Pedro Contreras and Ron Breuss had. "But we thought it was time to try again."
Contreras headed the sheriff's cold case unit until recently when he retired. Breuss now heads the unit. Childs was promised he would not face the death penalty if he told all he knew about the homicide.
"It's very gratifying to solve this, especially because it gives Linda's mother some kind of finality to the whole thing," Constantinides said. "She doesn't have to wonder anymore. She knew her daughter was dead, now she knows how it happened, why it happened. It's not pleasing, but at least it's knowledge."
Jozovich's family could not be reached for comment.
Linda Ann Jozovich was a De Anza College student who vanished when she went out to her car during a break from work at a Mervyn's department store in November 1979. Her ransacked car was found a few days later, leaving Santa Clara police investigators with strong suspicions that foul play was involved in her disappearance.
Childs told the two detectives recently that Jozovich's death "was eating up his brain," according to court documents.
A 52-year-old inmate serving two life sentences for separate homicides has confessed to the cold case killing of 19-year-old Cupertino resident Linda Ann Jozovich, who vanished while taking a break from a Santa Clara Mervyn's department store in 1979.
Terry Childs, currently incarcerated in Salinas Valley State Prison for brutally slaying a woman in Santa Cruz and another in Nevada, told Santa Clara County Sheriff's detectives on Oct. 12 from prison that he beat Jozovich senseless, then strangled and stabbed her repeatedly before dumping her body in a remote spot in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Prosecutors filed a murder complaint Thursday against Childs for killing Jozovich, almost 28 years to the day she was last seen alive.
For more than 15 years, her family had no idea what happened to her. Then in 1995, a hiker found what turned out to be her lower jaw bone and pieces of some ribs near Lexington Reservoir. More remains -- a skull and upper jaw -- were found nearby in 2004.
Charles Constantinides, Santa Clara County deputy district attorney, said Childs had been questioned in the past on at least two occasions by authorities, once by Santa Cruz County sheriff's detectives and about three years ago by Santa Clara County detectives. He gave some information about the murder, but not enough to convince them that he had committed the crime.
"We had discussed the case a lot. We had gotten nowhere," Constantinides said of conversations he and detectives Pedro Contreras and Ron Breuss had. "But we thought it was time to try again."
Contreras headed the sheriff's cold case unit until recently when he retired. Breuss now heads the unit. Childs was promised he would not face the death penalty if he told all he knew about the homicide.
"It's very gratifying to solve this, especially because it gives Linda's mother some kind of finality to the whole thing," Constantinides said. "She doesn't have to wonder anymore. She knew her daughter was dead, now she knows how it happened, why it happened. It's not pleasing, but at least it's knowledge."
Jozovich's family could not be reached for comment.
Linda Ann Jozovich was a De Anza College student who vanished when she went out to her car during a break from work at a Mervyn's department store in November 1979. Her ransacked car was found a few days later, leaving Santa Clara police investigators with strong suspicions that foul play was involved in her disappearance.
Childs told the two detectives recently that Jozovich's death "was eating up his brain," according to court documents.
"He had to confess in order to free himself from his demons," the documents said. "He expressed an interest in writing her family and apologizing."
Childs will be charged with one count of murder. He is expected to be arraigned in Santa Clara County sometime in the near future, according to Constantinides. After that Childs will decide if he wants to proceed to a trial or waive that right.
According to documents, Childs last month described precisely and with great accuracy where he deposited Jozovich's body, which convinced the detectives that he was telling the truth. The specific detail had never been publicized, so only he could have known it.
In describing his acts, Childs said on Nov. 6, 1979, he had just had an argument with his mother, whom he often argued with. He then got in his car and drove away from her Santa Clara home. As he passed the Mervyn's parking lot he saw Jozovich next to her car. She was on her dinner break, about 7 p.m.
He grabbed her, shoved her into the passenger seat of her car, then beat her senseless. He drove to a remote location near the Lexington Reservoir. She was still alive and moaning, he said.
Childs said he dragged her a short distance from the car and beat her mercilessly, then strangled her and finally ended her life by stabbing her repeatedly.
A few days after he killed her, he drove back to where he'd left the body, dragged it a short distance and covered it with leaves.
Childs was convicted in 1987 of fatally shooting 17-year-old Lois Sigala under a tree near Scotts Valley. After a three-day drug binge, Childs had accused the teen runaway, whom his girlfriend had befriended, of being a police informant when she told him her real name was not "Jeanine."
Nine years later, Childs' attorney at the time contacted authorities saying his client could "clear up" 11 homicides: two in Santa Clara County, three in Santa Cruz County, one in Reno, two in Seattle, one in San Diego and two in Tracy.
"When he says to me, 'I killed 11 people,' I utterly believe him," Christopher G. Smith told the Mercury News in July 1997. "He's one of the reasons state prisons were invented
