A doctor involved in an "on-again, off-again" relationship apparently tried to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney, police said Tuesday. Her decomposing body was found there three days later. 
 
 FILE - In this 2007 photo, shows Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac. who involved in an "on-again, off-again" relationship, apparently tried to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof last Wednesday night, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue, Bakersfield police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said. 
 
 While she was trying to break in, the man she was pursuing escaped unnoticed from another exit "to avoid a confrontation," authorities said. 
 
 DeGeare said the two were in an "on-again, off-again" relationship. 
 
 The man's identity was not revealed by police, but the man who resides in the home is William Moodie, 58. 
 
 "She made an unbelievable error in judgment and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she's passed away," Moodie told The Associated Press. "She had her issues _ she had her demons _ but I never lost my respect for her." 
 
 Reached by telephone, Moodie did not dispute the police's characterization of his relationship with Kotarac. He would not comment on the circumstances that led to her death, saying it was more important to focus on the good she did in life. 
 
 Moodie, who runs an engineering consulting firm, said Kotarac was a superb internist who often provided service and medication free of charge to her patients. 
 
 Kotarac apparently died in the chimney, but her body was not discovered until a house-sitter noticed a stench and fluids coming from the fireplace Saturday, according to a police statement. The house-sitter and her son investigated with a flashlight and found Kotarac dead, wedged about two feet above the top of the interior fireplace opening. 
 
 Firefighters spent five hours late Saturday dismantling the chimney and flue from outside the home to extract Kotarac's body, DeGeare said. 
 
 Officials said Kotarac's office staff reported her missing two days prior when she failed to show for work. Her car and belongings remained near the man's house. 
 
 A cause of death has not been determined, and an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday. Foul play is not suspected, though investigators have been looking into the incident as suspicious. ||||| A woman's decomposing body was found wedged inside her boyfriend's chimney after she tried to sneak into his Bakersfield house, authorities said Tuesday. 
 
 The body of Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, a doctor who had an "on-again, off-again" relationship with the man, was stuck in the chimney for three days before being discovered by woman who was house-sitting, the Bakersfield Police Department said. Authorities said Kotarac died of asphyxiation. 
 
 The woman "smelled an odor and realized it was coming from the fireplace," Sgt. Mary DeGeare said. 
 
 Kotarac had come to the home Wednesday night but the boyfriend wouldn't let her in. "To avoid a confrontation," DeGeare said, "he wouldn't let her in." 
 
 So Kotarac used a shovel and tried unsuccessfully to force her way in through a back door, police said. She then climbed the roof and slid down the chimney. But her boyfriend had already left the house, police said. 
 
 Kotarac was found stuck about 2 feet above the interior fireplace opening. In concluding that she died of asphyxiation, the Bakersfield coroner's office deemed the death an accident. 
 
 -- Robert J. Lopez
– A California doctor died after trying to enter her "on-again, off-again" boyfriend's home through the chimney and getting stuck, police say. Jacquelyn Kotarac was found dead 3 days later after a woman house-sitting noticed an odd odor coming from the fireplace, the Los Angeles Times reports. Authorities, who have deemed the death an accident, say she died from asphyxiation. Kotarac had already tried to break in through the back door, and her boyfriend, seeking to avoid confrontation, had left the house by the time she tried to slide down the chimney, according to cops. "She made an unbelievable error in judgment and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she's passed away," he tells AP. "She had her issues—she had her demons—but I never lost my respect for her."