Doctor dies in estranged boyfriend’s chimney

September 3, 2010

A prominent physician’s body was discovered wedged in her estranged boyfriend’s chimney after she attempted to break into his Bakersfield home. [Time]

Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, had been in an off and on relationship with William Moodie. On Aug. 26, after having a few drinks, Kotarac went to Moodie’s home to confront him.

She attempted to force her way through the back door before she climbed onto the roof and into the chimney. Kotarac suffocated as she slid down the chimney flue which narrowed to just four inches at its base.

Meanwhile, Moodie snuck out of the house hoping to avoid a confrontation.

Three days later, Moodie’s housekeeper smelled an odor coming from the chimney. It took firemen five hours to remove her corpse.

Kotarac worked in a clinic seeing as many as 200 patients a day. She had a reputation for providing medications to patients free of charge and had at one time used her connections in the medical community to secure a new heart valve for Moodie.