Where Is Jonelle Matthews’ Killer Now?

For over 30 years, Jonelle Matthews’ disappearance remained a thriller. 

The 12-year-old vanished from her Greeley, Colo., residence in 1984, with no hint till her stays have been found throughout a pipe set up in 2019. 

Although suspicions had lengthy surrounded Steven Pankey — a neighborhood man with ties to her church who later ran twice for the governor of Idaho — he wasn’t arrested till 2020. After two trials, he was convicted of felony homicide and kidnapping and sentenced to life in jail.

“During those decades, generations of Greeley police officers have never forgotten Jonelle, many living in torment over the possibilities of what may have occurred that grim evening in 1984, and what could be done to solve this mystery,” the Greeley Police Division stated in a statement following Pankey’s arrest. 

The assertion additionally shared that detectives started a “renewed investigation” into the lady’s case in 2015.

For years, Pankey had constantly inserted himself within the investigation and displayed odd habits relating to Jonelle’s disappearance. Even his ex-wife, Angela Hicks, stated in Oxygen’s 2024 docuseries The Girl on the Milk Carton that she began gathering proof towards him years earlier than his arrest. 

So, the place is Jonelle Matthew’s killer now? Right here’s all the things to learn about what occurred to Steven Pankey and the way he evaded police for over 30 years. 

Who was Jonelle Matthews?

Jonelle was a 12-year-old center college pupil dwelling in Greeley together with her mother and father, Jim Matthews and Gloria Matthews, and her older sister, Jennifer Mogensen. Her household advised NBC’s Dateline in 2023 that she was athletic and liked to sing and cross-stitch items for her pals.

In accordance with The Denver Post, she had been adopted from Los Angeles when she was 1 month outdated. Her delivery mom was solely 13 when she had Jonelle.

What occurred to Jonelle Matthews?

On Dec. 20, 1984, Jonelle vanished from her residence shortly after a buddy’s father dropped her off following a college Christmas live performance. The center college pupil was alone for simply over an hour earlier than her father returned from Jennifer’s basketball sport to search out her lacking.

Her mom was out of state, caring for a sick relative.

“You could tell Jonelle had been there,” Jim stated in a November 2024 episode of 48 Hours. “I yelled out ‘Hi Jonelle,’ ‘Jonelle, are you there?’ No answer.”

After Jim referred to as the police, investigators discovered footprints within the snow close to the home windows of the Matthews’ residence. He advised 48 Hours that it seemed like somebody had tried to mess the prints up with a backyard rake.

The younger lady was by no means seen once more.

Jonelle’s case caught nationwide consideration after she turned one of many first children featured within the Lacking Youngsters Milk Carton Program. President Ronald Reagan even discussed her disappearance throughout a 1985 assembly with the Nationwide Newspaper Affiliation.   

On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance in 1994, her household had Jonelle declared legally lifeless, The Denver Post reported. 

Her case went chilly till July 2019, when a bunch of oil and fuel staff found her stays whereas digging a pipeline in an unincorporated space lower than 20 miles from the Matthews’ residence in Greeley.

Jonelle’s demise was dominated a murder, and her post-mortem report revealed that she had been shot within the head. 

Who’s Steven Pankey?

Pankey was a fellow Greeley resident, dwelling simply two miles away from the Matthews’ residence. Although he was a stranger to Jonelle and her household, they attended the identical church, the place he served as a youth minister.

In 1977, Pankey allegedly left the church after being accused of sexual assault by a girl he was seeing. Prosecutors later dropped the cost, and he advised the Idaho Statesman in 2019 that the police have been suspicious of him ever since. 

Prosecutors stated through the trial that Pankey had been excommunicated after the incident, which additionally price him his job there as a janitor. He additionally labored as a used automobile salesman and a safety guard, in response to The Woman on the Milk Carton.

His ex-wife later claimed throughout trial testimony that Pankey held a grudge towards the church and his former boss, a parishioner named Russel Ross, who additionally occurred to be the daddy of Jonelle’s finest buddy and the identical father who dropped her off at residence the night time she disappeared. 

After Jonelle went lacking, Hicks stated that her ex-husband started appearing “suspiciously.” He made them depart city, spent hours digging a gap of their yard and have become fixated on information protection round her case. She began gathering proof towards Pankey in 1999. 

Pankey additionally inserted himself into the police’s seek for Jonelle and repeatedly hinted to investigators that he had data of what occurred. When his son was shot and killed by his girlfriend in 2008, Hicks claimed that she heard him say, “I hope God didn’t allow this to happen because of Jonelle Matthews.”

In his interview with the Idaho Statesman, he denied having any involvement in Jonelle’s case and advised the outlet that he was getting ready for a visit together with his spouse the night time the lady disappeared. 

“I never met Jonelle, I never met her family, I didn’t know she existed or disappeared until Wednesday, Dec. 26 (1984),” Pankey stated, noting that he didn’t be taught of the case till he returned from his journey. 

The previous janitor and authorities candidate later relocated to Twin Falls, Idaho, the place he unsuccessfully ran for governor twice in 2014 and 2018. Two months after Jonelle’s physique was discovered, police served a search warrant for his residence. 

What was Steven Pankey charged with?

Pankey was indicted by a grand jury in October 2020 on prices of homicide, kidnapping and crimes of violence. 

In accordance with 48 Hours, the indictment alleged that he took Jonelle from her household residence and shot her someday “during the course of the kidnapping.” The doc additionally claimed that Pankey was conscious of the rake used to blur the footprints. 

He was first tried in October 2021, however it led to a mistrial after the jury failed to achieve a verdict on the homicide and kidnapping prices. Nevertheless, he was discovered responsible of false reporting. 

Two years later, he was tried once more and located responsible of felony homicide and second-degree kidnapping. Pankey was sentenced to life in jail with the potential for parole, per the Greeley Tribune. Following the sentencing, Gloria told reporters she simply wished “to cry.” 

“I cannot forgive him for how he killed Jonelle,” she stated whereas clutching an image of her late daughter. “God is the one one who can forgive evil, and I really feel that that is evil.”

Pankey solely made a short assertion in courtroom, sustaining his innocence and claiming that his conviction was “not justice for Jonelle.” 

The place is Steven Pankey now?

Pankey is at the moment serving his sentence on the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Ordway, Colo. In accordance with the Colorado Department of Corrections, he shall be eligible for parole in 2040, when he’s 89 years outdated. 

“He’s an evil person,” Jonelle’s sister advised The Independent. “I think he can’t let go of things and holds grudges and doesn’t like people in authority over him … I don’t have a complete understanding of what he did that night, but if you are so driven by anger towards another sector, like a church or people in the church, that you are willing to commit a crime … that says something about you.”

However she added, “I’m not fixated by him. I am not going to harbor just anger towards him, because I will not give him another victim.”