SANTA CLARA
– The case already stewing with alleged murder-for-hire;
extortion; an abusive, arranged marriage; and a still-missing body
added one more element to the bizarre mix Friday when a witness
seemed to change his story in mid-examination.
Adrian Vizcaino, the current San Benito County inmate turned
state’s witness, played his role almost perfectly as the
prosecution’s star witness in its case against Gustavo Covian, the
alleged hit man on trial in connection with the 1998 disappearance
of Gilroy resident and restaurant owner Young Kim.
SANTA CLARA – The case already stewing with alleged murder-for-hire; extortion; an abusive, arranged marriage; and a still-missing body added one more element to the bizarre mix Friday when a witness seemed to change his story in mid-examination.
Adrian Vizcaino, the current San Benito County inmate turned state’s witness, played his role almost perfectly as the prosecution’s star witness in its case against Gustavo Covian, the alleged hit man on trial in connection with the 1998 disappearance of Gilroy resident and restaurant owner Young Kim.
Vizcaino took the stand to discuss how the murder defendant Gustavo Covian had bragged to him about the killing. But at the end of his nearly six draining hours on the witness stand – more than twice as long as any of the other 11 witnesses preceeding him since the trial started on Jan. 27 – Vizcaino contradicted the entire testimony he seemed so confident about throughout the day.
The breakthrough came when Covian’s defense attorney Thomas Worthington, using a seemingly endless stream of repetitive questions to apparently wear Vizcaino down, concluded his cross-examination by insinuating that everything Vizcaino had said was derived from a story given to him by Javier Camacho. Both Camacho and Vizcaino are Covian’s brothers-in-law.
“Isn’t it true that you were upset at Gustavo for not paying for your attorney (when arrested for an armed robbery in Hollister in 1999),” Worthington asked Vizcaino, 29, through a Spanish interpreter.
“Yes,” replied the orange-jumpsuit-clad and handcuffed Vizcaino.
“Isn’t it also true that you told Octavio (Gustavo Covian’s brother) that the story you told here today was made up and told to you by Camacho?” Worthington asked next.
“Yes,” Vizcaino answered through the interpreter to the shock of the 12 jurors.
Worthington concluded his questioning and Deputy District Attorney Peter Waite immediately followed by asking Vizcaino to clarify his remarks.
Vizcaino said he was confused by the questioning, weary from his extended time on the stand, having a hard time understanding the interpreter – a complaint he made several times during the day – and was duped by Worthington.
“Everything I’ve said here today is the truth,” said Vizcaino, whose current 11-year sentence will be reduced to probation if his testimony is found truthful at the conclusion of the case. “I have no reason to lie.”
Gustavo Covian, 39; his now ex-wife and mother to three of his children, Maria Covian, 28; Gustavo’s brother Ignacio, 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 who 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, Covian could face life in jail without parole.
Vizcaino said during his testimony that he had been taken to what he said he was the original burial site of Young Kim’s body in the dry Vibroras Creek bed in Hollister twice, once by Ignacio Covian and once by his younger brother Humberto Covian, but the body had since been moved to an undisclosed location. He also spoke of how before the Hollister armed robbery for which he is serving time, Gustavo Covian offered him his .357 magnum handgun and said “this gun has killed before.”
Waite then showed Vizcaino the .357 magnum confiscated from Gustavo Covian’s Hollister home in 2000, and Vizcaino said it was the same gun.
“At first he would deny killing (Young Kim),” Vizcaino said. “But then he would admit it. Everyone in the family was talking about it.”
Throughout Vizcaino’s thorough testimony Friday linking Gustavo Covian to the murder of Young Kim, Gustavo Covian appeared relaxed and even joked with the Spanish interpreter before the lunch break. The previous day in the trial Gustavo Covian had lashed out at Jesus “Chuy” Estrada while he was on the witness stand. Estrada was a cook at the Kim’s Gavilan Restaurant at 6120 Monterey Road and the last person to report seeing Young Kim on the night of Nov. 13, 1998.
Estrada also spoke of the last time he saw Young Kim, when he followed him home from the restaurant around 10 p.m. that Friday the 13th, saw him park his car in the garage, close the door and then never emerge from the house. During his first interview with police, Estrada said he last saw Young Kim at the restaurant, but his story changed in a second interview.
But even with statements like that and Thursday’s outburst by Gustavo Covian, the body of Young Kim has never been found, and Kyung Kim’s friends and family will testify that her husband was depressed about his failing business, his dying father, his deteriorating marriage and that he was considered suicidal, Worthington said.
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 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 Kyung Kim in the Vibroras Creek’s dry bed near Church Hill 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.
Six of the 12 witnesses called in the case so far, along with Gustavo Covian, have used interpreters, which in several cases has caused confusion and delays. The trial is expected to conclude by Friday.
