Thursday, April 15, 1999

By Zachary Coile
San Francisco Examiner

EUREKA, Calif. -- Inside their modest, pale green California bungalow, the routines of family life for Jens Sund and his three children go on much as they always have.
The family's two dogs, Reggie, a bichon frise, and Gigi, a poodle, clamor for attention. Dirty laundry piles up at the washing machine. Ten-year-old Jimmy does tricks with a yo-yo in the kitchen and begs his dad to let him go to a friend's house.
"Not tonight," said Sund, warming his hands with a cup of tea. "You had a friend over for the last 24 hours. Me and you are going to hang out one-on-one. We're going to go out and buy you some shin guards and black soccer socks."
It's all part of Sund's effort to preserve some sense of normalcy for his family, despite the mid-February slayings of his wife, Carole, 15-year-old daughter Juli and family friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, after their visit to Yosemite National Park.
Walking past a hallway lined with framed family photos assembled by his wife, Sund opened the door to Juli's room, which has been left mostly untouched since her death.
Sund said he is trying to use the room to keep it from becoming a shrine. He and other family members often take naps on her bed. "It's not nearly as morbid or weird as you think," he said.
Last weekend, the family gathered to pay respects to Carole and Juli Sund. They held a private memorial service followed by a public service. Of the three bodies, only Juli's remains have been released by the FBI, so the family has put off a formal burial until a later date.
The return to day-to-day life has been a struggle, friends said. Those close to the family said Carole Sund held the family together with her nonstop energy. Sund has tried to fill the void for his three remaining children while he copes with Carole and Juli's deaths.
As the investigation inches forward, Sund is trying to move beyond details of the crime to focus on his children, Jonah, 14, Gina, 13, and Jimmy. All three were adopted by the Sunds as babies. He has taken time off work as a vice-president at his in-laws' real estate firm to pick the kids up from school, attend their basketball games and take them shopping.
"The kids need me," Sund said. "And I think if I can help the kids, they can help me."
The weeks of stress have taken a toll on him. He sleeps just a few hours a night, rarely sleeps past 4 a.m. He tries to make the best of it by jogging at sunrise on the beach with his dogs.
He said he has given up the few drinks he used to have weekly. Instead, he says he has become obsessed with his workout machine. He has lost 13 pounds since his wife and daughter disappeared.
He said he and his family have gotten a boost from the cards, poems and teddy bears sent by people from around the country, and from the kind words of strangers who recognize him from TV.
He said he will continue to do some interviews, including an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show to discuss child abuse, but does not want to become a spokesman for a cause.
"I'm not going to do this for the rest of my life," he said. "I'm going back to my life."

Copyright 1999, The Detroit News

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