Murder Trial Begins for Man Whose Wife Vanished in 2001

A Lakewood man killed his wife -- the daughter of a former state senator -- because he stood to gain financially from her death as their marriage was souring, prosecutors argued as his trial began Tuesday.

The allegations were made in Norwalk Superior Court during opening arguments in the murder trial of Bruce Koklich, 43, who stands accused of killing Jana Carpenter-Koklich, 41. Her father was former state Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress).

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eleanor Hunter told jurors that the couple, whose marriage had deteriorated to something like a business arrangement, were having financial troubles in two businesses they owned.

Among the potential financial gains for Koklich, Hunter told jurors, was a $1-million life insurance policy.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Henry Salcido said the evidence would show that the couple had a loving relationship and no financial troubles -- and that therefore Koklich had no motive.

“When you talk about motive, we will show it was not Bruce Koklich,” he said. He said Koklich would take the stand in his defense.

Salcido said the killer might be someone else. Before her disappearance, he told the jurors, Carpenter-Koklich received two strange telephone calls.

“Jana talked with someone on the telephone: ‘Hi, Jana. You know who this is. Call me,’ ” Salcido said. “To this day, I don’t think anybody knows that unknown strange person or what his motive was.”

The case goes back to a weekend in mid-August of 2001.

At the time, the two were operating two businesses: a real estate business in Long Beach and a new software company that was expected to make millions soon, Hunter said.

Through their marriage, Carpenter-Koklich had been submissive to Koklich, Hunter told jurors, but in the last few months she’d begun to exercise, shed 30 pounds and became assertive.

Carpenter-Koklich could not have children and, Hunter said, Koklich told her he didn’t want to adopt.

That Friday evening, Aug. 17, Carpenter-Koklich went to a concert at Staples Center with a friend.

She had a workout appointment the next day at 7 a.m., as well as other commitments through the weekend, including watching a movie with her mother.

She missed them all, Hunter told the jurors. Koklich was the person who saw her last.

Missing appointments was so uncharacteristic of her that Saturday morning, when she was just five minutes late to her workout, her trainer called her house.

“She’s basically telling us who killed her because of how she chose to live her life,” Hunter said.

Investigators later found blood in her and Koklich’s bedroom and in the back of her sport utility vehicle, Hunter said. She said that Koklich had left the vehicle with the windows rolled down in a crime-plagued area of Long Beach to make her disappearance look like an abduction or a carjacking.

Carpenter-Koklich’s body was never found.

After his wife’s disappearance, Hunter told jurors, Koklich did not grieve as a normal person would.

She said that he soon solicited sex from women, including his 18-year-old niece.

In his opening arguments, Salcido tried to discredit Hunter’s assertions.

The reason Carpenter-Koklich did not show up for appointments and did not return phone calls that weekend is that the couple stayed home together after a tiresome business trip to Las Vegas connected to their software company, he said.

Koklich last saw his wife Monday morning before he went to the real estate office ahead of her, Salcido said.

The couple, he told the jurors, had two thriving businesses and a happy marriage.

Rebutting the prosecution’s assertion that the couple -- who had borrowed $34,000 from Carpenter-Koklich’s mother -- had financial troubles, Salcido said they had several lines of credit with no balance and a few hundred thousand dollars available.

Among other key testimony, Salcido said one witness would testify that Carpenter-Koklich was seen at their real estate business on Sunday -- at least 24 hours after the prosecution says she was killed.

“It proves that Bruce did not kill her,” Salcido told jurors.