ONE YEAR LATER...

One year later: Community still torn apart by slaying of pregnant Asha Veil

By JENNIFER SQUIRES

Sentinel staff writer

BEN LOMOND — Almost a year after Joanna "Asha" Veil was killed, her memory has not dimmed in the San Lorenzo Valley.


The memorial book signed at the vigil for Joanna 'Asha' Veil Sunday will be sent to her mother in Poland. About 30 people gathered at a Sunday evening vigil for Veil, a pregnant Ben Lomond Market cashier who was slain last September.

"It's just way too close to home and scary," said Beth Robinson, who owns Where the Fur Flies in Ben Lomond. She keeps a photo of Veil in the front window of her store and said it will remain there until her killer is found and prosecuted. "I can't believe it's been a year."
But despite the push for answers in this tight-knit mountain community, no one has been arrested in connection with the deaths of Veil, 28, and her unborn daughter, Anina. Sheriff's detectives have not announced any new developments in the case for months and say they have no timeline for solving the killings.
"I'd love to make an arrest tomorrow," sheriff's Lt. Phil Wowak said last week. "But the reality is I don't want to ... until we have an absolutely airtight case."

The hold-ups in the case have not changed: forensic evidence shipped to the state Department of Justice for analysis has yet to return, according to the Sheriff's Office. Wowak declined to say what specific evidence investigators are waiting on but said it would take at least two more months to get the results.

In April, a sheriff's detective named Michael McClish, 38, a suspect in the killing. McClish, who was a manager at the market where Veil worked, was convicted of rape and sodomy in July and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison Friday. Last week, Wowak would not comment on McClish or any other suspects the Sheriff's Office is pursuing.

The Sheriff's Office also has not released who the father of Veil's unborn child is, though they've had the information for months.
"It doesn't have any bearing on how and why she was killed," Wowak said of the father's identity. "It doesn't have any merit in the prosecution of her killer. I'm just trying to keep distractions out of the case"

Mourners at Sunday's vigil said the lack of news about Veil's slaying has spurned speculation that is tearing the community apart.
"It is really divisive," said Sue Lee, who worked with Veil at the market. "That's the real unfortunate thing"

Veil, a Polish immigrant who was estranged from her husband when she was killed, had lived in the San Lorenzo Valley since November 2004 and worked at the market for about a year.
"It just affected me," Claudia Parke, of Boulder Creek, said at Sunday's memorial. "It could have been my daughter. It could have been my granddaughter. It's just not OK"
A few cried as others shared memories of Veil, like how thrilled she was about becoming a mother and the calm way she would walk through the aisles at the market rubbing her belly.

"Asha had such a profound effect on the people she met," Lee said. "I cannot go into that store and not hear her voice"
But most who grieved her death Sunday only knew her in passing; some had never met her.
"I felt like I knew her all my life," said Ken Murphy, a Ben Lomond man who met Veil at the market. "She sticks with me all the time"

Contact Jennifer Squires at mailto:jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com?subject=One