Caressa M. Kovalcik, a 23-year-old White / Caucasian female from Windber, Pennsylvania, died on May 31, 2014, after a shooting inside the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Denver Roy Alan Blough. She had been formerly from Homer City and was remembered by loved ones as a hardworking waitress, a music fan, a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, and, above all, a devoted mother who poured her time and energy into her children.
On the evening of May 31, police were called to the couple’s
apartment on 19th Street in Windber shortly before 7 p.m. Authorities found that Caressa had been shot. She was more than eight months pregnant, with reports describing her as being about two weeks from her due date. Emergency responders and medical staff fought to keep her alive long enough for doctors at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown to deliver her baby girl by emergency Cesarean section. Caressa was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
The baby, named Abrianna or Aubreanna in different reports, was taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for treatment after the emergency delivery. For nearly three weeks, the newborn survived the aftermath of the shooting that had killed her mother. She died on June 20, 2014, from complications connected to the shooting and emergency birth. Caressa also had an 11-month-old son who was inside the apartment at the time; authorities said he was only several feet away when the gun discharged.
Investigators quickly focused on Denver Blough, Caressa’s live-in boyfriend and the father of her children. Blough, then 25, was arrested after the shooting and initially charged with criminal homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, simple assault, and reckless endangerment. Police said he lived in the apartment with Caressa and their young son. After the newborn died, prosecutors filed a second homicide charge related to the baby’s death, along with additional assault-related charges.
Blough’s account was that he and Caressa had been arguing and that the shooting was accidental. According to reports citing police and court filings, he said his 20-gauge shotgun had been broken into pieces during the argument, and that it discharged when he handled or showed the barrel assembly. Authorities said the shot struck Caressa in the face. Prosecutors treated the case as a homicide, and at one point indicated they would seek the death penalty if Blough were convicted of first-degree murder.
The case did not end in a capital trial. Blough eventually pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in Caressa’s death and also pleaded guilty in connection with the death of the baby and to recklessly endangering the couple’s 11-month-old son. In November 2015, a Somerset County judge sentenced him to 30 to 80 years in prison. Reports stated that Caressa’s parents, Anne and Robert Kovalcik, did not want prosecutors to pursue a life sentence or the death penalty, in part because of concern for their surviving grandson.
Caressa’s death left behind a family grieving not only for her, but also for the daughter she never had the chance to hold. Her obituary described her as a wonderful mother, a hard worker, and someone deeply connected to her family in both the United States and Belgium. The criminal case established Denver Blough as the person responsible, and his conviction and long prison sentence closed the legal chapter, though the loss remained a devastating one for her children, parents, siblings, and community.
