SANTA CLARA
– A lifelong criminal and drug user who claims he was recruited
to dig up the body of a missing Gilroy restaurant owner buried in a
Hollister creek took the witness stand Monday in the
murder-for-hire case of Gustavo Covian.
SANTA CLARA – A lifelong criminal and drug user who claims he was recruited to dig up the body of a missing Gilroy restaurant owner buried in a Hollister creek took the witness stand Monday in the murder-for-hire case of Gustavo Covian.
Danny Ray Callahan, 47, who was transported from a Washington state prison to testify, recalled the story of how Gustavo Covian’s brother Ignacio Covian, the father of two of Callahan’s grandchildren, asked him to help dig up the body of Gilroy restaurant owner Young Kim in Vibroras Creek near Fairview and Churchhill roads in March of 1999.
Callahan had come to Hollister to participate in a robbery with the brothers, but when that went afoul, Ignacio “Joe” Covian – who will go to trial following his brother – asked Callahan to transport the body in his trunk and rebury it somewhere in Washington.
“We all had shovels (Gustavo and Ignacio Covian and Adrian Vizcaino, a convict turned state’s witness),” Callahan said Monday, who was dressed in orange prison garb with a long, white goatee and dark circles around his eyes. However, when asked by Deputy District Attorney Peter Waite Monday, Callahan could not positively identify Gustavo Covian as one of the other two Spanish-speaking men with shovels that day.
“We parked as close as we could on Fairview (Drive), and, from what I understood, it was only a few hundred feet away,” Callahan continued. “But we abandoned the plan when we saw a lady with her kids on a porch nearby.”
Later that year, Callahan would lead Gilroy detectives to the area to search for the body of former Rancho Hills Drive resident Young Kim, who was last seen on Nov. 13, 1998. Numerous searches since then have failed to yield a body or any significant amount of forensic evidence.
Gustavo Covian’s defense attorney Thomas Worthington questioned Callahan’s statements and repeatedly asked Callahan if he was getting a shorter sentence in Washington for testifying. Callahan denied that, but did say that “I would never believe a word (Ignacio Covian) said.”
Gustavo Covian, 39; his now ex-wife and mother to three of his children, Maria Covian, 28; Ignacio Covian, 31; and Kyung Kim, 46, all are charged with involvement in the disappearance and suspected murder of 49-year-old Young Kim, Kyung Kim’s husband of 24 years and father of her two children.
All four defendants are facing first-degree murder charges and have been in custody in county jail since 2001. The other defendants – none of whom can legally testify in the current trial – will go to trial following Gustavo Covian. If convicted of being the hired gun in the twisted saga complete with alleged murder; extortion; and an abusive, arranged marriage, Covian could face life in jail without parole.
The clean-cut Gustavo Covian remained reserved throughout Callahan’s testimony Monday. Gustavo Covian had lost his temper during a witness testimony Thursday, although Worthington was adamant Monday that his client made no threats toward the defendant or any gestures. Worthington said his client was speaking to him, and that Gustavo Covian only said the witness was lying.
Family members of Young Kim’s also made their first appearance in the courtroom Monday.
Young Kim’s younger sister Chung Weber was accompanied by her mother to the Santa Clara County Superior Courtroom in Santa Clara.
Weber took the stand to testify that her brother had been concerned with his business and his relationship with his wife around the time of his disappearance, but said that he would never kill himself or flee to Mexico or his native Korea, as the defense has stated as possibilities.
“He was always taking care of our parents – very responsible – and he would not leave without telling someone first,” said Weber, who came from the San Diego area for the trial.
“Did he ever talk about taking his life?” Worthington asked Weber, who said she was very close to her brother.
“Yes, but he was not serious. I was not concerned.”
Weber went on to recount the story of how Kyung Kim became agitated with her in the days following Young Kim’s disappearance because she continued to call Kyung Kim for updates.
Kyung Kim waited 16 days before reporting her husband missing to the police.
“Kyung didn’t seem worried,” Weber said. “She said he went to Mexico with friends.”
A man who Kyung Kim was believed to be having an extramarital affair with was called to the stand briefly Monday, and was asked about the state of business at the Kim’s restaurant after Young Kim’s disappearance.
Prior witnesses in the trial have stated that the Kim’s marriage – arranged in their native Korea – was abusive and that both partners had been participating in extramarital affairs for a number of years.
Waite claims that following the murder allegedly organized by Maria Covian, Gustavo Covian continued to extort Kyung Kim for up to $100,000. Gustavo and Maria Covian purchased a new home and two new cars between 1998 and 1999, but Worthington claims they were paid for by loans from other members of the Covian family.
Korean speaking witnesses who appeared at the trial Wednesday verified loaning Kyung Kim $50,000 between July 1998 and March 1999; Worthington said the loans were for the restaurant.
Police have searched the alleged Hollister grave site of Young Kim in the Vibroras Creek’s dry bed near Churchhill Road with cadaver dogs and earth moving equipment at least four times since 1999 – most recently last summer – but have yet to recover a body or any forensic evidence. A .357 magnum was recovered from Gustavo and Maria Covian’s home during a search in 2000, but forensic tests for blood, hair, fibers and skin were inconclusive, and the gun cannot be matched to a bullet because the body hasn’t been found.
