That belief was validated when her request for parole was not rejected by the parole board member. Her case will now be taken to the full parole board at their next monthly meeting. Her attorney, Phil Cherner says that if the full parole board rules in her favor, Donna Yaklich could be paroled by sometime this fall.
Yaklich was convicted of second-degree murder. The two brothers convicted of killing Dennis Yaklich, Charles and Edward Greenwell testified against Donna Yaklich at her trial. They testified that Donna Yaklich had promised to pay them $45,000 if they would kill her husband. She told the brothers Dennis Yaklich had been abusive to her.
Dennis Yaklich was murdered the night of December 12, 1985 outside his home in Avondale, near Pueblo, with a shotgun. Donna Yaklich was inside the home at the time. Following his death, she cashed in a $250,000 insurance policy on his life.
Donna Yaklich was given a 40-year sentence, the maximum for her conviction. After serving 21 years in the Colorado women's correctional facility in Canon City, she was released to a halfway house and an intense supervision program. She wears an ankle bracelet to monitor her whereabouts.
Her release was preceded by an investigation into the suspicious death of Dennis Yaklich's first wife, Barbara. Coroners from Arapahoe and Denver Counties reviewed the autopsy report on Barbara Yaklich and determined that she had died from "a very serious blunt force injury." A task force came to the conclusion that, "this is a suspicious death."
At a parole hearing in 2006, Donna Yaklich was denied parole. She had to wait three years to apply again for parole, which she did Tuesday.
This time though, there was less opposition to her parole request. Bill Thiebaut, the district attorney in Pueblo offered no opposition to her requested parole. At the hearing, seven family members and friends of Donna Yaklich offered support for her release. Included in those groups was Donna's adult son, Dennis, Jr. and her mother, Phyllis.
Speaking in opposition to Donna Yaklich's parole was Vanessa Yaklich, daughter of Dennis and Barbara Yaklich. She told the parole board that Donna Yaklich was not a victim of abuse.
"What she did was unforgivable," Vanessa Yaklich said. "I wish Donna would come to terms with the pain she has caused."
In her plea to the parole board, Donna Yaklich said, "I wish there was something I could do to make it better. What I did was wrong."
Since her release to the intense supervision program, Donna Yaklich has become employed by a non-profit in the Denver metro area and has participated in and completed anger management programs. />
