KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A man accused of murdering his wife was inside a Kalamazoo County courtroom Tuesday while his 10-year-old son took the witness stand to give details about the alleged crime.
On June 17, deputies were called to a home in the 6900 block of Comstock Township. Inside, they found the body of 40-year-old Nancy Kovach. She diedfrom an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
The Kovachs’ son, who took the witness stand, was inside the home at the time she was killed, along with his 8-year-old brother. He told the courtroom a detailed account of the moments that led up to the shooting, saying that it all started when hetold his mom he was hungry.
She was in the kitchen helping him make hot dogs when he said his dad came in and began yelling at her. He said it quickly escalated into a physical altercation, as he told the courtroom that his dad grabbed his mother by her hair and told her he was getting a lawyer because he wanted a divorce. Then, his father stormed off into the couple’s bedroom, according to his son’s testimony.
The boy said his mother cried on the kitchen floor for a moment before she got up and went into the bedroom after her husband.
“Don’t follow him. Don’t go in there,” the boy said he told his mom.
The prosecuting attorney asked why he told his mom not to go in there.
“I was afraid something bad would happen,” the boy said.
The last thing he said he heard was the sound of shattering glass. The boy said that he and his brother went and stood by the door at the time, which is something he told the courtroom they did often when their parents fought, so they could leave quickly and walk up the street to their grandparents’ home.
He said that’s when his dad came out and said, “Go to your grandma’s. I just shot your mom.”
Shortly after the brothers arrived at their grandparents’ home their dad showed up. The boy said Kovach mentioned murdering the boy’s mother one more time by saying, “I did her family a favor.”
Another witness who took the stand was the first to respond to the scene that day. Deputy Steven Compo with the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s said when he arrived at the home where the two boys, their grandparents and father were,that Kovach came out with his hands in the air.
Compo told the courtroom that Kovach admitted to killing his wife that day.
“[He] said he was sorry. [That] for the past 10 years he was called a lousy husband and father in front of his children.”
The judged ruled that there was enough evidence to send Kovach to trial. A court date has not yet been set.
