Husband Is Focus of Investigation in Poison Death : Crime: Prosecutors haven’t yet said the case involves foul play and no charges have been filed. Richard Overton’s lawyer doubts legal action.

Richard K. Overton of Dana Point, a mathematics and computer specialist and part-time college professor, is under investigation in the 1988 cyanide-poisoning death of his wife, Jan Overton, a prominent South County school board member.

No charges have been filed, and prosecutors have yet to say publicly they are certain that Jan Overton died of foul play. But Overton has been under intense investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for the past year, and a decision on whether to file charges against him could be made within the next several weeks, according to informed sources.

Although the case has already been turned over to the district attorney’s office for prosecution, sheriff’s investigators were still conducting interviews with potential witnesses and pursuing other evidence this week.

An attorney hired by Overton confirmed Thursday that the district attorney’s office has been investigating his client in connection with the death and that he discussed the matter with prosecutors this week. But attorney Robert D. Chatterton said he is not convinced that his client will ever be charged.

“It’s been more than a year; if they really think he is a suspect, why haven’t they charged him with anything?” Chatterton said.

Overton, 62, told The Times last week that any suggestion he killed his wife is “so wild and preposterous” that he would not discuss it.

“We’ve been trying for 2 1/2 years to resume and rebuild our lives,” Overton said. “I’m not going to revive any more of that pain by commenting on anything.”

Law enforcement officials searched Overton’s home more than a year ago, but affidavits and records related to that search have been sealed under court order.

Defense attorney Chatterton acknowledged that more than a hundred computer disks were seized during the house search, plus some diaries and personal papers. Many of those personal effects still remain in the custody of law enforcement officials. But Chatterton said he did not believe anything of consequence regarding Jan Overton’s death was found.

Chatterton said law enforcement authorities have refused to tell him where the investigation stands or whether charges would be brought against his client. But he predicted that it would not be any time soon, if at all.

“It would take (prosecutors) at least another two months to make a decision on who, if anyone, is responsible for her death,” Chatterton said.

Jan Overton, 46, vice president of the Capistrano Unified School District, died unexpectedly at the Overton home on Jan. 24, 1988, as she prepared to leave for a family outing. Paramedics temporarily revived her, but she was pronounced dead upon arrival at San Clemente General Hospital.

The mother of six children and stepchildren was a former president of the Orange County School Boards Assn. and had served on the state School Boards Assn. Delegate Assembly. She had been a member of the Capistrano school board for 12 years.

The cause of her death was undetermined for several months. “Natural causes . . . pending investigation,” the original death certificate stated.

But in February, 1989, the coroner’s office revealed publicly for the first time that she had died of cyanide poison.

After a tip to the coroner’s office, Sheriff’s Department’s homicide investigators were asked to look into the Overton death in July, 1988. It was in December, 1988, that her death certificate was amended to include cyanide as the cause of death. The public revelation came two months later.

But since then, investigators have been quiet about the case except to say that no arrests had been made. Law enforcement authorities have refused to say who provided the tip to the Sheriff’s Department.

Chatterton, Overton’s attorney, said he believes that someone with an ax to grind against Overton has tried to stir up recent media interest in his client as a suspect. But the lawyer added that it would be misleading for anyone to believe that Overton feared a pending arrest just because he hired a lawyer to represent him in the investigation.

“If they’re going to search your house, you have to assume that you are at least some sort of suspect,” Chatterton said. “And only a dummy would not consider hiring a lawyer under those circumstances.”

The Overton case has been assigned to Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher W. Evans, who declined to comment because “it’s a case still pending investigation.”

Chatterton said he was in contact with Evans on Wednesday about the case but learned nothing new.

Overton lists his current occupation as a consultant and professor. He had previously worked as a psychologist and has taught mathematics or computer courses at Cal State Long Beach and UC Irvine. In 1988, he taught managerial courses at USC. But in papers he filed with the county that year, he identified himself primarily as “a businessman. I have served major corporations, helping them increase their productivity through the human-oriented use of computers.” He is also the author of a book on mathematical theory.

Overton’s first wife, Dorothy Boyer, filed for divorce against him in 1968, claiming “extreme cruelty and grievous mental and physical suffering.” Boyer declined to discuss the issue because of their four children. Overton had a fifth child by a second wife. Richard and Jan Overton had one child, a son, Eric, now an adult.

While investigators have been tight-lipped about any possible motive for Overton’s death, numerous people who were close to Jan Overton say that the couple were having some marital problems in the year before her death. One neighbor described Jan Overton as “a wonderful woman who loved an afternoon of coffee and backgammon when she wasn’t working.”

Jan Overton had worked for a computer company for several years, and in the later years of her life, ran her own computer business out of her home, friends said.

Overton had run for his late wife’s seat on the school board in 1988 after her death. Several of her friends who were upset with him over the couple’s alleged marriage difficulties said they were secretly delighted when he made a poor showing and finished in the bottom half among seven candidates.

Overton is described by people who know him as quiet and polite.

The winner of the 1988 school board election was Crystal Kochendorfer, active in parent-teacher activities in the district. She described Overton as “always a gentleman. I thought he would have done better in the election than he did.”

In his statement of qualifications to voters in the school board race, Overton stated: “I know our community. I’ve lived here for 25 years. My children have attended (the district’s) schools since the first grade. And, of course, Jan shared many of her experiences on the board with me.”

During the last years of her life, Jan Overton was troubled with nagging health problems. One friend remembers a knee operation a few years earlier. Several others said she suffered greatly from a skin rash, the cause of which doctors had been unable to pinpoint.

But one close friend who said she talked to her less than 24 hours before her death said she was cheerful and appeared to be in good health.

When news of the cyanide findings were first published, Richard Overton was quoted in The Times as saying: “It’s still hard to realize Jan is gone. Now this comes along. It’s really just impossible to believe.”