Dad killed kids because wife was leaving

Investigators believe a man fatally shot his five children in their home and killed himself after he found out his wife was leaving him for another man, a sheriff's spokesman said Sunday.

The bodies of James Harrison's children were found Saturday in the family's mobile home in Graham, about 15 southeast of Tacoma. Harrison had been found earlier in the day, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot, behind the wheel of his car in Auburn, about 18 miles north of Graham.

Authorities haven't released the family's name, but relatives have identified them as the Harrisons.

The man and his 16-year-old daughter had found his wife with another man at a store in Auburn on Friday night, Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer told The News Tribune of Tacoma...

Kovacich found guilty of wife’s murder

After 26 years of speculation and doubt, the verdict finally is in — Paul Kovacich was found guilty of murder with the use of a firearm in the Sept. 8, 1982 death and disappearance of his wife, Janet Kovacich.

Kovacich has spent the last four months in a Roseville courtroom. The jury came back with the guilty verdict Tuesday afternoon after deliberating for three days.

In closing arguments last week, Placer County prosecutor Dave Tellman painted a picture of Kovacich as abusive and controlling. Kovacich’s attorney, John Spurling, characterized Janet Kovacich as a “troubled young woman” who sought to paint her husband in an unflattering light...