A Pueblo woman who hired two men to kill her husband was sent to the Arapahoe County Residential Center on Friday after serving nearly 18 years in prison, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Donna Yaklich was sentenced to 40 years in prison after her husband, Dennis Yak lich, a Pueblo police officer, was gunned down in the driveway of his home in 1985.
Donna Yaklich maintained that her husband was abusive and she acted in self-defense. She was admitted to DOC custody on Aug. 9, 1988.
The Arapahoe Community Corrections Board approved Yaklich’s transfer in October. She is to meet the parole board again in July. The community corrections board did not publicly state the reasons for releasing Yaklich to a halfway house, but chairman Thomas Vockrodt said the reopening of an investigation into the death of Dennis Yak lich’s first wife, Barbara Yaklich, played no part in their decision.
In September, Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino reopened an investigation into the 1977 death after 9News reported the original medical examiner might have missed evidence of a murder.
The investigation, according to Pueblo sheriff’s spokesman Steve Bryant, is in the finishing stages.
“It’s still ongoing but it’s in the concluding process and Sheriff Corsentino expects some sort of conclusion by the middle of February,” Bryant said.
In 1977, hospital pathologist Dr. Neill McGrath, who has since died, ruled 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 said blunt-force trauma to the abdomen is a more likely cause of death.
Donna Yaklich claimed during her murder trial that Dennis Yaklich had abused her. Her story was featured in a 1994 made-for-TV movie starring Jaclyn Smith.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
