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In October 2020, Steve Pankey was indicted for the 1984 kidnapping and murder of Jonelle Matthews in Greeley, Colorado. The indictment came after Jonelle's remains were found at an oil and gas site in 2019, more than three decades after she disappeared from her home.
Steve, who is now 71, was found guilty and sentenced to life on Monday, October 31. His sentencing comes after his first trial resulted in a hung verdict earlier this year.
According to Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke, a jury found Steve Pankey guilty of murder, second-degree kidnapping, and false reporting in the 1984 disappearance and death of Jonelle Matthews.
How authorities charged Steve Pankey in the homicide of Jonelle Matthews
What happened to Jonelle?
12-year-old Jonelle Matthews performed at a Christmas concert on December 20, 1984, and was thereafter dropped off at her home by a friend and their father. Jonelle was last seen around 8 pm, walking into the ranch-style house she shared with her mother Gloria, sister Jennifer, and father Jim. Her disappearance was first detected when her father got home later that evening.
In July 2019, pipeline construction workers found human remains in a rural part of Weld County. Forensic testing proved that the remains matched Jonelle's dental records. Autopsy results determined the cause of death as being a gunshot wound to the head.
After police declared the death to be a homicide, Pankey emerged as a suspect in the case owing to his interest in the investigation, as well as a series of incriminating statements that he made.
Evidence against Steve Pankey
In September 2019, authorities searched Pankey's condo and discovered more than 1,000 documents that made reference to the Matthews case.
According to Greeley police investigator Mike Prill, Pankey had "intimate knowledge" of some little-known facts about the case, such as the identities of the two police officers who resided on Matthews' street, the victim's death, and the fact that she was murdered before crossing 10th Street.
In 2021, Pankey apparently shared a cell with Patrick Callas at the Weld County Jail. Callas claimed that Pankey made embarrassing remarks while incarcerated. He revealed that Pankey said:
“She was dead before I crossed the railroad tracks.”
Pankey's ex-wife Angela Hicks also testified that the defendant displayed suspicious behavior in the wake of Matthews' disappearance. In particular, she recalled the time when Pankey casually referred to Matthews during the funeral of their own son. She revealed:
“He bent, and he kissed the urn, and he said, "I hope God didn’t allow this to happen because of Jonelle Matthews".
Prosecutors claimed that Steve Pankey kept up with the investigation throughout the years, even as he moved his family to various locations before settling in Idaho, where he campaigned unsuccessfully for governor as a Constitution Party candidate in 2014 and in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2018, the year police said he was recognized as a person of interest in the girl's killing.
Yahoo News reported that there is a possibility that Steve Pankey will appeal his conviction.
