What happened to Jonelle Matthews? Details explored ahead of The Girl on the Milk Carton on Oxygen 

12-year-old Colorado resident Jonelle Matthews was found missing from her home pre-Christmas in December 1984, which devastated her family for decades as she never made it back. Her missing sent shockwaves through the whole state of Colorado. Years later, when her remains were found by workers, it was revealed that she was shot in the head.

Decades later this homicide was finally solved and Jonelle Matthews finally got justice when Steve Pankey, another Colorado resident, was charged with murder and kidnapping of this little girl. To know more about her case, follow along.

The two-part special on Oxygen titled The Girl on the Milk Carton, which will air on August 25 at 7 pm E.T. will delve deep into this homicide.

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Jonelle Matthews disappeared from her own home

After Jonelle Matthews vanished from her own home without leaving any traces in the later hours of December 20, 1984, her father first asked her friends and neighbors about her whereabouts. When he did not get any information from them, he informed the authorities about this little girl’s disappearance, later that night.

As per reports, he had last spoken to Jonelle on the same evening around 8:30 pm when she came back home after her choir session. Her shawl and shoes were left inside the house. There was no trace of her, nor any signs of a break-in, or a ransom call that would make the cops understand that this was a felony. There were only footprints in the snow.

Initially, her father and her biological mother were the suspects but were later cleared from the picture. Days after her disappearance, to make more people aware of this case, her photo was printed widely on every milk carton throughout the state. However, that too did not get a lead.

(Note - in the 1980’s a lot of children went missing. There were many reports of abductions. Therefore the government decided to print missing children’s pictures on the side of the milk cartons so that the children could be found. There were a few success stories resulting from this printing method. )

Let’s get back to the disappearance of Jonelle Matthews once again. 10 years later from the date she went missing, she was declared dead officially. However, her parents still hoped to find the child as her body had not been discovered yet.

But, on July 24, 2019, all hopes were shattered for the Matthews as they were informed that 15 miles southeast of their home, the remains of their little girl were found by excavation workers, who were working on a pipeline. The DNA results confirmed that it was Jonelle Matthews, as per reports.

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Steve Pankey was arrested for the murder of Jonelle Matthews

Reportedly, after Jonelle's remains were found, forensics confirmed that she died because of a gunshot wound to her head. Angela Hicks, the wife of Steve Pankey revealed a ton of information to the police to catch the killer. She revealed how days after the murder, her husband who had helped the police and showed interest in the little girl’s disappearance, could be the killer.

Angela told the detectives about how she found newspapers in her home, that mentioned Jonelle Matthews' name. She also recalled her husband going on an unplanned trip, days after the disappearance, his increased interest in consuming radio media while driving, and also telling his wife to read the paper to him.

He had also been digging his backyard years back when the girl disappeared, and one of his cars was also burnt, which Angela Hicks found absurd. However, she could not connect the dots back then. With the discovery of the girl’s body, she thought her husband could be the killer, as his behavior was seemingly strange according to her.

Although Steve did not plead guilty to this crime, on October 7, 2022, he was charged guilty of the murder and kidnapping of Jonelle Matthews by the jury, who found him obsessed with Matthews' disappearance. He was sentenced to twenty years to life in prison, with chances of parole.

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To know more about this case, stream The Girl on the Milk Carton on Oxygen.