An El Dorado County jury has found 50-year-old Glyn Scharf guilty of murdering his estranged wife.
After deliberating a day and a half, the jury found Scharf guilty of first degree murder Thursday afternoon.
Jan Scharf, 45, disappeared on May 14, 2002, after returning home from her job at the U.C. Davis Medical Center. Her estranged husband was visiting her home and was apparently the last person to see her. A neighbor testified that she heard a woman's screams that night, but Glyn Scharf claimed he was gone by that time.
The missing woman's car was later found at a Folsom 24-Hour Fitness Center. The SUV was thoroughly cleaned, almost sanitized.
Suspicions of foul play quickly surfaced. "It's pretty common knowledge she was going through a pretty ugly divorce," said Paula Green, who worked with Jan Scharf at U.C. Davis Medical Center.
Jan Scharf told her co-workers she thought that her estranged husband, a paramedic with access to drugs, was trying to poison her.
Glyn Scharf was a firefighter-paramedic for Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department until 1998, when he left the department. As part of his duties, Scharf provided medical care and dispensed some medications.
During the trial, it was revealed that a piece of jewelry Jan Scharf was wearing when last seen was discovered hidden in shrubbery at the home of Glyn Scharf's former girlfriend. The jury foreman told News10's Mark Hedlund the panel considered the necklace to be the most serious evidence against Scharf.
Scharf is scheduled to be sentenced on November 30. He faces a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison.