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Submitted: 7/22/16 • Approved: 7/24/16 • Last Updated: 7/27/16 • R1149763-G0-S3
US Air Force
February 29, 1984 - October 29, 2004
Published Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Greenbrier couple will head to New Mexico next week in a search for peace, more than three years after their daughter was found slain at her home on an Air Force base.
On Oct. 28, 2004, Kimberly Susan Novak, then 20, died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck. Now her widowed husband, Edward Novak II, will finally stand trial beginning Monday at Cannon Air Force Base in Curry County.
Edward Novak has since been dishonorably discharged from the military after being formally accused of premeditated capital murder 16 months after his wife's death on March 21, 2006, though Kimberly's parents, Donald and Patricia Bollman, say they need to see him convicted before they can move further toward closure.
Donald Bollman said last week his family has undergone an exhausting period of mourning since his daughter's murder, but the Bollmans are determined to see the justice process through to completion.
"This happened in 2004, and it's taken the military all this time just to file charges and strengthen the case against (Edward Novak)," Bollman said. "Now he's finally seeing trial. Now we need to see him found guilty."
The alleged murderer is already serving a 17-month sentence after pleading guilty to a separate charge of child neglect, due to an incident after Kimberly Novak's killing in which the Novaks' then-2-year-old daughter, Rebecca, was found alone in a crib, unclean and undernourished at Edward Novak's Air Force housing unit.
The victim's parents began to suspect their daughter's widower when they learned of his neglect charge, as Patricia Bollman said in a March 2006 interview:
"If he can (neglect) an innocent baby, then he could beat my daughter to death. He has no feelings if he can do that to (an) infant."
Military prosecutors say that money motivated Edward Novak to kill his wife, who held a life insurance policy, according to the Curry County-based Clovis News Journal, as one attorney said the couple had been living "paycheck to paycheck."
Defense attorneys contend that the victim's death could have been an instance of mistaken identity related to another homicide which was contemporary with the Novak murder. Edward Novak's attorneys have said he couldn't have killed his wife because he was returning a borrowed car when she was killed.
The Bollmans traveled to Curry County in 2006 for probable cause hearings in the case against their son-in-law, whose demeanor was "jovial" during memorial services for his wife, according to Donald Bollman in 2006. Relatives of the victim say the murder trial could last three weeks.
Kimberly and Edward Novak were married shortly after Kimberly joined the military, and Kimberly died 15 months into the marriage. She was found beaten to death in the couple's bathroom, and prosecutors say a bite mark found on Edward's arm, which according to a medical examiner was caused by his wife, was a defensive wound incurred during the killing.
Now Donald and Patricia Bollman intend to hear all testimonial details regarding their daughter's death at the trial, which could end with their son-in-law being sentenced to death.
"We believe that her husband did do it," Donald said last week.
"My wife and I will be watching closely, and we hope to see justice."
Contributed on 7/22/16 by hawkinsdonna
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Record #: 1149763