Bodies In The Wilderness: Where is Terry Childs now?

Terry Childs, an American serial killer, played a pivotal role in the 1979 missing person case of Linda Jozovich. Jozovich was abducted from the parking lot of her workplace, Mervyn's Department Store in Santa Clara, during her lunch break.

After Jozovich remained missing for over 27 years, a break in the case came when Terry confessed to her murder in a fit of rage on the evening of November 7, 1979. His confession on October 12, 2007, led to additional charges being brought against him, in addition to an existing life imprisonment sentence for the 1985 murder of Lois Sigala.

The Bodies In The Wilderness episode 1, which aired on February 8, 2024, at 9 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery, explored the missing case of Linda Jozovich. The synopsis reads,

"When 19-year-old Linda Jozavich vanishes from work one night in 1979, it just doesn't make sense to her Santa Cruz community; years later, the murder of another local teen, Lois Sigala, sends investigators a step closer to solving Linda's case."

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Who is Terry Childs and where is he now? Details explored

Terry Childs was born on September 22, 1955, in Santa Clara County, California, where he grew up and eventually worked as a bail bondsman. From a young age, Childs was exposed to drug abuse and alcoholism. His criminal record began in 1970, when he was arrested for his first offense of robbery. In the following years, he spent significant jail time for minor offenses, establishing himself as a petty criminal.

In a significant turn of events, Terry Childs was arrested with his girlfriend for owning a 10-inch artillery mortar simulator. While awaiting their trial, both became suspects in the murder of 17-year-old Lois 'Jeanine' Sigala. Sigala's body was discovered in Scotts Valley 12 days earlier, and the autopsy determined that she had been murdered five days prior to the discovery.

According to Terry Childs' girlfriend's testimony, Sigala had been living with them in their Capitol apartment. Childs decided to kill her when he suspected her to be an informant, putting him at risk for robbing the Pasatiempo Inn with friends John and Ron in July 1985, per the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Childs had fired 15 rounds from a 9mm Luger into Childs' body and ordered his girlfriend to clean up the crime scene at Scotts Valley.

Terry Childs was convicted of life imprisonment with eligibility to parole after 41 years of his sentence in February 1987. Meanwhile, his girlfriend received five years in the women's correctional system as part of her plea deal.

The confession to the 1979 murder of Linda Jozovich came 28 years later, on October 12, 2007, when Terry Childs confessed to eleven murders he had committed since 1979. He confessed to the crimes in exchange for charges of capital murder and his transfer to an out-of-state prison.

The years-long missing person case of Linda Jozovich received a breakthrough as the perpetrator was identified. Childs revealed during the interrogation that he had met Jozovich at the parking lot of the departmental store she used to work at. He grabbed her and pushed her to the passenger side of her car before he drove off to the Lexington Reservoir in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Upon encountering Jozovich, Childs forcefully pushed her out of the car, subjected her to brutal beating, strangled her with his belt, and then stabbed her to death. Jozovich's remains were discovered by a hiker from the area in 1995, with her lower jaw and pieces of her ribs being recovered initially. Subsequently, Linda's upper jaw and skull were recovered from the same area in 2004.

Terry Childs received five life imprisonment sentences for the murders of Linda Jozovich, Joan Leslie Mack, Christopher Hall, Rulan McGill, and Lois Sigala. He pleaded guilty to the murders of Mack and Hall. Childs passed away on February 11, 2023, while serving his sentence at the Salinas Valley State Prison.