KILLER ROBERT KOWALSKI FINGERED IN '96 MURDER

A CONVICTED killer now faces charges in a 1996 Alaska cold case. Alaska State Police say a grand jury has indicted 50 year-old Robert D. Kowalski, 50,  on Friday, charging him with first and second-degree murder. In the July 1996 murder that happened at Glacier Bear Lodge in Yakutat, Sandra Perry, 39, was shot in the head. The pair were living common-law in Washington state and were in Alaska on vacation, cops say. Kowalski, then 34, claimed the couple heard a bear outside and when he got a shotgun, he tripped onto the bed and fell onto Perry. He told authorities that as he was getting up, the gun accidentally went off, shooting Perry in the head. But a man in the next room heard the poaiur arguing viciously before the gun went off. The cold case unit re-examined the case after Kowalski was convicted in 2008 of killing his girlfriend in Montana with a single shot to the head. MORE IN THE ALASKA DAILY NEWS

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JANE & CATHRYN JOHNSON'S MURDER 'NOT GOING AWAY'

TRAGIC

YOU know what they say about Mounties always getting their man.
Well 15-years have passed but they're still working on the brutal murder of a pregnant mom and her eight-year-old daughter and they've vowed not to stop until they catch their killer.    
Back in September 1996 were Jane Johnson, who was five-months pregnant, and her eight-year-old daughter Cathryn in their Turner Valley, B.C home.
And despite the length of time cops are confident that someone who moved away to Parksville, 150 kilometres northwest of Victoria, is holding the deadly secret which will unlock the case.
Sgt. Patrick Webb told the Calgary Herald: "Investigators firmly believe that there are persons who know the final details which, if they came forward, would be enough to lay a charge and provide some closure to the family and friends of this 15-year-old crime.
"We want them to realize this is not going to go away,"
Firefighters found Jane, 36, who was five months pregnant, and Cathryn dead in their green and white bungalow sitting near the Turner Valley Golf Club.
It was originally thought the mother and daughter had died from smoke inhalation, but an autopsy revealed Jane - a daughter of the Cartwrights, a well-known Alberta ranching family - had been stabbed to death.
Police have never released how the little girl died, nor have they said how or where in the house the fire started, but they did say it was deliberately started. 
Robbery and sex have been ruled out as motives.
Johnson's fiance, Henry Reichert, was also a person of interest during the investigation, although he has never been charged.
A $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer sits untouched.
Cathryn's father Sam Johnson, who is not a suspect, says his daughter would have no doubt carried on as a barrel racer.
He told the paper: "She'd have been 23. I know I'd be going to lots of rodeos. Nobody has forgotten it here. Lots of times, people come up to me and ask if anything is new.
"It reminds me that people are legitimately interested in getting this solved."
With the passing of another anniversary of the killings, Johnson says he's holding out hope.
"I hope the next time we talk, it's to celebrate. We'll see."

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