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Episode five of Netflix’s Homicide: Los Angeles titled The Disappearing Wife deals with the disappearance of Jana Koklich, which happened on August 20, 2001. Her husband was the first person to report her missing and file a case after she did not show up at the office the same day.
On August 17, 2001, Jana Koklich went to a concert with a friend and arrived home at midnight on August 18, 2001. On August 20, she was reported missing by Bruce.
Jana's car and her wallet and missing too. There were no signs of any forced entry into the house, which left the detectives and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department puzzled.
Detectives and police were unable to locate Jana even weeks after she disappeared, On August 27, 2001, however, they found her automobile at Signal Hill. Her body has not been recovered to date. The jury found her husband guilty with a motive in 2003, and he was subsequently charged and taken into custody for her murder. Bruce is incarcerated right now, serving a life term.
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Homicide: Los Angeles arrived on Netflix on July 16, 2024. The docu-series has a total of five spine-chilling true-crime episodes.
5 chilling details about Jana Kolklich's murder
1) Jana Koklich's body has not even recovered to date
Jana Koklich disappeared from her home on August 20, 2001. To date, the officers and detectives of the Los Angeles County Sherrif department have not found her body. Although Jana is assumed dead for which her husband is currently serving a life sentence, he does not claim to be guilty of the murder.
During the first trial on January 30, 2022, Bruce painted a positive image of their relationship to the jury and the judge, which did not help him avoid arrest in the long run.
Even though the police found Jana’s car, her body has not yet been recovered even after law enforcement scouted all the areas near her home and even areas around Signal Hill, where her car (a Pathfinder) was found.
What happened to Jana, and if Bruce killed her, then where did he dispose of her body, remains a mystery.
2) Disturbing voice call
According to Jana’s husband Bruce, Jana would get disturbing messages on the house tape recorder. The voice was of an unknown male and the messages that the stranger sent were found extremely disturbing by the couple, as we saw in episode five of Homicide: Los Angeles.
The unknown and creepy voice would ask Jana to call her. The police tried to connect this mysterious voice on the tape recorder to the case but found no link. Did the voice have anything to do with Jana’s disappearance also remains a mystery.
3) A large bloodstain
The detectives discovered Jana’s car, a Nissan Pathfinder on August 7, 2001, seven days after she went missing. The car was located in Signal Hill, California. In the cargo area of the Pathfinder, a large bloodstain was found, alongside a feather.
Later when a luminol examination of Jana’s room was done, they also found drops of her blood in the bedroom. The blood samples were later matched with Jana’s DNA by the forensics who reported all three to be of the same person.
4) Bruce would approach random women
After Jana Koklich disappeared and the police and the detectives were looking for her, Bruce Koklich would approach random women and also wanted to go on random dates, while the investigation was ongoing as we saw in episode five of Homicide: Los Angeles.
The detectives found this trait of Bruce extremely absurd, with everything that was going on around him at that time. From the episode, we also know that Bruce was a womanizer and Jana was aware of it. She wanted to build a family and adopt a kid but perhaps Bruce didn’t agree to it.
5) Bruce played innocent till the end
As revealed in episode five of Bruce even after his arrest kept his calm. He turned around, looked at his stepbrother David, and said -
'Don’t worry about me. I will be okay.'
In the fifth episode of Homicide: Los Angeles, he is referred to as an egotistical manipulator, who wants to kill Jana Koklich. He knew that if the two had to go through a divorce, Bruce would lose a lot of his wealth and he did not want the hassle. He wanted more money and to hold his status as a real estate mogul.
He was even ready to take a polygraph test to prove his innocence but later refused to. Bruce guided the detectives from the very beginning, telling the law enforcement how his wife went missing. He also painted a positive picture of himself and his wife in front of the jury and media.
However, his positive attitude was not convincing enough for the jury, who declared him guilty with motive and circumstantial evidence.
Do you think Bruce Koklich killed Jana Koklich? Let us know your thoughts about this murder mystery in the comments below.
Homicide: Los Angeles is now streaming on Netflix.
