Defendant’s Ex-Girlfriend Cites Signs of Mental Illness

Contrary to the account of a jailhouse informant, Kevin Kolodziej never talked about faking mental illness to escape punishment for killing a 90-year-old Ventura woman, his former girlfriend testified Tuesday.

But in four or five phone conversations from Ventura County Jail since his arrest Jan. 17, Kolodziej showed many signs of a real mental disorder, said Loretta Hart, the mother of Kolodziej’s 3 1/2-year-old son.

For example, Hart said, “he told me he had seen big numbers coming out of the ground” on the day of the killing. He also proposed to her several times and, assuming he would be sent to prison, asked her to come live with him in a trailer on the grounds of the penitentiary.

“For five minutes he would sound like he could carry on a conversation, then would become incoherent,” Hart said.

The testimony came at Kolodziej’s trial before Ventura County Superior Court Judge James M. McNally, who is hearing the case without a jury. Kolodziej is accused of murdering Velasta Johnson during a burglary of her house.

If convicted of both charges, Kolodziej, 25, could be sentenced to life without parole. But his attorneys, who concede that Kolodziej fatally stabbed the elderly woman, hope to prove him not guilty by reason of insanity, which could result in hospitalization for an indefinite period.

Hart, 23, was called by Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris to bolster the testimony of John Reutcke, a jailhouse informant. Reutcke testified that he overheard Kolodziej telling Hart that he planned to feign a mental disorder as part of his insanity defense.

Hart said Kolodziej expressed concern about being incarcerated or getting the death penalty. But she was adamant that the defendant’s mental illness is genuine and not something he would fake.

“Kevin is very self-conscious about his mental illness,” Hart said. “He’s aware of the social stigma of mental illness as loony or crazy. Nobody wants to be seen that way, including Kevin.

“So he overcompensates in order to appear to be quote-unquote normal.”

She acknowledged that in a discussion of his disheveled appearance, Kolodziej had said something like “they’ll think I’m crazy.” But she said he made the statement out of embarrassment, not guile.

Hart also recalled other things that Reutcke had testified about: that Kevin proposed marriage several times, that he wanted them to have conjugal visits, and that he had heard that trailers were set up on state prison grounds for that purpose.

Hart, who is married and lives in Studio City, said she had not seen Kolodziej for more than a year before his arrest. As for his marriage proposal, she said, “I didn’t want to say yes or no because I was worried about his mental stability.”

She also told him that she had a job and could not go live with him at some distant prison. He insisted that he would take care of their child at the prison while she went to work.

Other than the reference to numbers coming out of the ground, Kolodziej never told her what happened the day of the killing, Hart said. Investigators say Kolodziej left a Ventura hospital where he was being treated for self-inflicted wounds and then wandered from house to house before entering Johnson’s home and stabbing her.

But Kolodziej has said he is “very sorry this has happened,” Hart said. “He said he wishes he could bring back Mrs. Johnson and tell her he’s sorry.”