Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac Dies In Chimney Trying To Break Into Boyfriend’s Home (VIDEO)
A doctor involved in an “on-again, off-again” relationship apparently tried to force her way into her boyfriend’s home by sliding down the chimney, police said Tuesday. Her decomposing body was found there three days later.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof last Wednesday night, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue, Bakersfield police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said.
While she was trying to break in, the man she was pursuing escaped unnoticed from another exit “to avoid a confrontation,” authorities said.
DeGeare said the two were in an “on-again, off-again” relationship.
The man’s identity was not revealed by police, but the man who resides in the home is William Moodie, 58.
“She made an unbelievable error in judgment and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she’s passed away,” Moodie told The Associated Press. “She had her issues – she had her demons – but I never lost my respect for her.”
Reached by telephone, Moodie did not dispute the police’s characterization of his relationship with Kotarac. He would not comment on the circumstances that led to her death, saying it was more important to focus on the good she did in life. Read more
Meghan McCain opens up about campaign, Palins
PHOENIX — John McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain says in a new book released Tuesday that Sarah Palin brought drama, stress and uncertainty to her father’s failed bid for the presidency in 2008, but she doesn’t blame the vice presidential nominee for losing the race.
In “Dirty Sexy Politics,” Meghan McCain portrays conflicted feelings about her father’s surprise choice for a running mate. She reveals that she called Palin “the Time Bomb.”
“I was waiting for her to explode,” McCain wrote. “There was a fine line between genius and insanity, they say, and choosing her as the running mate was starting to seem like the definition of that line.” Read more
Rumbling volcano keeps Indonesians in shelters
Thousands of Indonesians spent a third day in shelters Tuesday as a volcano threatened a devastating eruption on Sumatra island, officials said.
Governent volcanologists said 2,460-metre (8,000-foot) Mount Sinabung was not spewing as much ash and smoke into the atmosphere as it had for the first two days but it was still extremely dangerous.
The mountain erupted for the first time in 400 years on Sunday, sending around 30,000 people into temporary camps as authorities ordered everyone within a six-kilometre (four-mile) radius to leave.
Officials said about 7,000 people had returned to their villages Tuesday but those from within the evacuation zone were not being allowed to go home.
“People are asking us if they can go home to tend to their animals and guard their homes but they’re not allowed to leave the camps,” disaster response official Mohammad Agus Widisono said. Read more
