Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino is reopening a 28-year-old investigation into the death of Barbara Yaklich after a 9News report indicated the original medical examiner might have missed a murder.
Yaklich was the first wife of Pueblo narcotics detective Dennis Yaklich. He was killed in 1985 and his second wife, Donna, was convicted of hiring two hit men.
In a high-profile trial, she was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Hospital pathologist Dr. Neill McGrath, who has since died, determined that Barbara Yaklich died of natural causes.
Arapahoe County chief coroner Dr. Michael Doberson and Denver County chief coroner Dr. Tom Henry have reviewed the original report and say blunt-force trauma to the abdomen is a more likely cause of death.
“There was never a suspect in this case and nothing to suggest there was foul play,” Corsentino said.
Foul play has long been the suspicion of Donna Yaklich and her family. She claimed during her murder trial that Dennis Yaklich had abused her.
Donna’s mother, Phyllis Filler, said if investigators find foul play in Barbara Yaklich’s death, it might help Donna’s bid for parole.
She has served 17 years of her sentence and twice has been denied parole to a halfway house.
Barbara Yaklich’s daughter, Vanessa Yaklich, 31, opposes parole for Donna Yaklich and said suggesting that her father killed her mother is “victimizing the victim.”
“My mother was not murdered,” she said. “They’re trying to justify (Donna) having committed murder because she’s up for parole. It’s ridiculous.”
Corsentino’s task force, which includes retired investigator Lou Smit, CBI chief investigator Steve Johnson and Denver police officers, will initially compare the 1977 autopsy report with findings of the Arapahoe and Denver coroners.
