from struggling single mother to beloved household name. Donna Yaklich was convicted of conspiring to have her husband killed and sentenced to 40 years in prison. The original investigation concluded that Barbara Yaklich died of a diet drug overdose. I had no expected to fall in love with the children, who so desperately needed someone, Yaklich said. Donna had one extramarital affair about a year before the murder. Your abusive husband: Should You Kill Him? Records show Giduck and Yaklich took a romantic vacation to Jamaica together prior to her arrest in March 1986 a getaway funded entirely from the death benefit Yaklich received after having her husband murdered. The wife of Edward G. Yakich for 28 years, she was born in Schenectady, NY to the late Ronald and Jane (Corcoran) Exley. ges on the grounds that Yaklich was motivated by the hope of collecting on three insurance policies on her husband's life. weatherford democrat arrests; city of buffalo employee salaries. Drama Hooked on steroids and unable to control his bursts of sudden rage, a police officer keeps his wife under his thumb and routinely abuses her behind the closed doors of their house. sadistic sex. Her release was preceded by an investigation into the suspicious death of Dennis Yaklichs first wife, Barbara. However, the autopsy report showed no other indications that would reveal a pattern of abuse no recorded discoloration, bruising, or external signs of beatings. }); Donna discovers that she cannot leave the marriage; Dennis tells her the police wont do anything for her because he is a cop, and that he will take Dennis Jr. away from her, and kill both her and her sister too, if she tries to leave and divorce him. Woman who loves her brother too much seeks revenge against a doctor she believes allowed him to die. Not only did Yaklich struggle to trust in her own ability to kill her husband, she struggled to believe that he would ever really die. However, she said she has been working on bettering herself since being convicted and sentenced. Docudrama with Jaclyn Smith as a mother whose years of abuse by her husband, a local cop, compel her to plot his murder. Several people involved with the case, including District Attorney Sandstrom, have stated that if Yaklich had gone ahead and committed the murder herself, she would have walked. However, the DA and many others also question the validity of Yaklichs testimony, including that Dennis was abusing her maintaining the theory that Yaklich conspired to have him killed just to receive the insurance money. In fact, the vacation was cut short when Yaklich was notified of the charges that were being brought against her, and surrendered to police upon her return to Pueblo. autoPlay: 3000, Lead roles in the inquiry were awarded to narcotics detectives Dennis partners. Still, the abuse hadnt stopped another year later. "Had it not been for Yaklich, the Greenwells would not have been involved in this murder," the appellate judges ruled. They convince her to come forward about Karens murder of her parents, and attempt to go into hiding from Karen until Anne can speak to the police, but Karen finds Anne and kills her, then follows them to their cabin in the woods and kidnaps Luke. According to a cold case team, the investigation was incomplete., This case needed some good, old-fashioned police work, said team lead Steve Johnson, with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. the Donna never sought medical treatment for any injuries resulting from abuse by Dennis, nor did she ever call police about any incident. DENVER The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld Donna Yaklich's conviction for conspiracy in the contract killing of her husband, Pueblo Police Detective Dennis Yaklich, in 1985. The probation supervisor who had conducted Yaklichs pre-sentencing investigation testified that Yaklich would be an excellent candidate for sentencing alternatives outside of the Department of Corrections, and gave the court his recommendation for the minimum sentence. Which seems to lead to a conundrum: Somebody like Beth in this Lifetime movie, who has gone through all the legal motions, is basically too together and too apparently capable of taking rational steps to protect herself ever to be able to claim battered woman syndrome if she fails to wait for her ex to actually make a lethal attack on her (and, DUH, totally get the drop on her) before, say, shooting him in the head. gtag('config', 'G-VPL6MDY5W9'); Killer Mom : The True Story of Diane Downs. One December evening in 1985, shots rang out, killing her husband Dennis. More than 30 years ago, Dennis Yaklich, Donna's husband, was shot to death in his home in Avondale, Colorado. from a Most of the insurance money had already been spent by the time Yaklich was arrested. Incoming storms to bring fresh snow to Vail, Eagle County. Endless scenes of him lifting weights (and obviously not Brad Johnson) and steroid taking do little except pad out the running time. She also told a psychologist hired by her attorney that Dennis implied he'd had a part in Barbara's death and could kill her, too, and make it look like an accident. You suddenly discover your husband is a completely different person than you thought he was, usually some kind of dangerous criminal, usually after he has faked his own death. Yaklich was convicted of second-degree murder. Based on her mother Beth Holloways Donna described only two instances of abuse at her trial, one in which Dennis hit her with a thrown soda can, and one in which, 3 years before the murder, he held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. It was this feeling of hopelessness that eventually led Yaklich to hire gunmen to kill her husband, in an effort to finally end the ongoing abuse. When Dennis returned home after working a night shift, the brothers shot and killed him. It's unknown whether most Lifetime viewers enjoy tales of bad women as an exercise in social disapproval and self-validation, or as vicarious pleasure in forbidden bad behavior. Leah opens her eyes, and says "Why didn't you let me die?" Just as she begins her I owe it all to my wonderful supportive husband and kids toast, a guest shrieks in horror. Being in prison is similar to the prison I put myself in while I was married to Dennis, she said. In Finally a detective investigating the suicide of a previous patient of Karens hooks them up with Karens sister, Anne, who tells of their fathers sexual abuse of both of them, and Karens murder of their parents,++ also disguised as suicides. However, attorneys for Donna Yaklich argued that Dennis had been beating his wife. Despite the division inside the Yaklich family, Vanessa Yaklich said she's not upset with Dennis Yaklich Jr. for supporting his mother. What she did was unforgivable, Vanessa Yaklich said. Im awarding a full additional star for the scene where theyre about to read the verdict, and Lauren Hutton is striking her very best long-suffering tragic Lifetime heroine pose, which is 100% convincing except by then you know for sure that shes actually a lying cold-blooded murderer. She went on to detail the ongoing injustice, claiming to defend her father since he is no longer able to defend himself. Based on a true story, using real names! Oh ew. A scene of the husband forcibly removing her from a battered woman shelter begs the question: did no one at the shelter make any attempt to notify the authorities that he had essentially assaulted and kidnapped her? Either way, these are pretty much the most fun Lifetime movies there are, in my opinion. ), who was 11 at the time of her fathers death (what, more children in the house? Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress and film producer. It is time to deal with Lukes behavior problems. Helen starts investigating, figures out that Leah is indeed some kind of psycho killer and, happily, intervenes just in time! After Dennis was killed, the Pueblo Police Department Dennis employer carried out an investigation into his death, despite the fact that the murder actually took place in the jurisdiction of the Pueblo Sheriffs Office. Heche was Emmy-nominated for her performance. | Why should she live when her brother died? The Greenwell brothers were paid $4,200 in installments after the murder was committed although the brothers testified they had been promised $45,000. 1 in a series. At the hearing, seven family members and friends of Donna Yaklich offered support for her release. Feb 21, 2023. I never feared my father, nor did I observe any abuse, whether it be psychological or physical, perpetrated by him. the same time and raise their children as a group. Opens with Daniel Wells, in prison, answering the question, tell me about your relationship with your sister Frankie. controversial A retelling of the biggest environmental crisis of our generation that shook the nation while highlighting She threatens to cut Waldo loose if he doesnt get her money straightened out, and he threatens to rescind his alibi, so Frankie gives baby brother a call. While the officers who worked with him conceded that he was always the go-to guy for breaking down a door or clearing a room, he was difficult to manage. However, it turns out that the law is not as big a fan of the get him before he gets you theory of self-defense as I am. Dennis pleaded with her to come home, and even went so far as to promise that he would try to change and because she was ashamed to go back to him again, Yaklich told the counselors that she was leaving the state. Another concern for Yaklich was her husbands established persona of invincibility one he had carefully instilled in her over years of repeated psychological and physical abuse. The murder, they claimed, was a battered woman's desperate attempt to escape a lifetime of abuse - or potentially becoming a murder victim herself, like Dennis' first wife, who is thought to have died of a diet drug overdose in 1977. ENGLEWOOD Nearly 24 years after the murder-for-hire death of her Pueblo police officer husband, Donna Yaklich sat at a table Tuesday where her future will be decided. Former District Attorney Gus Sandstrom, who prosecuted Donna Yaklich, said he was always notified of developments in her case and always argued that she should not be paroled or released to a halfway house. But Karen the beautiful blond family therapist has a mysterious troubled past, and begins unraveling the family unit posthaste. True, the various stratagems abused women develop to handle their abusers usually fail in the end, but they do generally exist for a while first. Potentially aggravating subsequent marriage counseling is obviated by his death or arrest. Charles and Eddie Greenwell shot and killed Detective Yaklich in the driveway of his own home on Dec. 12, 1985. According to staff there, Yaklich was a hard and industrious worker, even volunteering her time as a member of the Fire Response Team, comprised of prisoners trained in firefighting and first aid. He wants to close the door, but Frankie assures him Daniel cant hear anything. For starters, she immediately pulls the plug on the driver in the hospital. A woman lets a safe-seeming person into the house--it could be a renter, or a handyman, or someone posing as a long-lost relative--and must discover the truth in time to repel the danger before she or her family is killed. Here's a list of some of the themes I expect to be tagging in my movie and book reviews here. Then once Carrie manages to call the hotline at least, it turns out it will take upwards of an hour to trace the call because its coming from another district.*). "Under these circumstances, the trial court did not abuse its discretion that the evidence of her affair was directly relevant to the case and was not outweighed by any danger of unfair prejudice.".