Found Deceased CO - Jonelle Matthews, 12, Greeley, 20 Dec 1984 *arrest 2020*

[oviedo]

I had hoped for some results - DNA match, COD etc. I think her killer is out there IMO

 

[Sulamith]

Suspect: Steve Pankey https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article234982707.html

 

[Legally Bland]

Suspect: Steve Pankey https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article234982707.html

From the link:
_______________

Authorities last week searched the Twin Falls home of 68-year-old Steve Pankey, serving him a warrant that said investigators had probable cause to believe he kidnapped and killed Jonelle Matthews in 1984.

Jonelle was reported missing from her home in Greeley, north of Denver, on Dec. 20, 1984, after returning from performing a Christmas concert with her classmates, according to the Denver Post. At the time, Pankey and his former wife lived about 2 miles away.

Pankey, a 2014 Constitution Party candidate for governor who also ran in the 2018 Republican primary, disclosed the investigation this week in interviews with the Idaho Statesman. The search, Pankey said, came about a month after he gave police a DNA sample.

...

At the time, Pankey was a youth minister at Sunny View Church of the Nazarene in Greeley. Pankey said he had gone to church with many people who knew Jonelle Matthews’ family, but he did not.

 

[oviedo]

Former candidate for governor says he's being eyed in 1984 Greeley disappearance
snipped

A copy of the search warrant posted on the Statesman website shows that investigators were looking for computer equipment – including floppy diskettes, hard drives, magnetic computer tapes -- as well as “any and all correspondence, diaries, memoirs, journals, personal reminiscences, electronic mail (e-mail), letters, notes, memorandum, or other communications in written or printed form, as these items pertain to allegations set forth in this affidavit, or that relate to the murder of Jonelle Matthews.”

The affidavit, the warrant and the return are all sealed, according to a court clerk.

Greeley police Cmdr. Roy Smith told 9NEWS that Pankey “has made repeated efforts to speak with detectives” about the Matthews case. But after detectives traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho, on Aug. 15, Pankey refused to answer questions, Smith said. Pankey did voluntarily submit a DNA sample, Smith said.

At that point, Smith said, Greeley detectives obtained a search warrant for Pankey’s home, executing it in Sept. 4 along with Twin Falls police and sheriff’s officers.

So I wonder if his DNA matched? I will have to go back and look at her old thread but I do seem to remember something about church and her disappearing? JMO

ETA - he can be sleuthed

“Pankey remains a person of interest in the murder of Jonelle Matthews,” Smith said.

 

[oviedo]

Former candidate for Idaho governor under investigation for 1984 murder: report
snipped
Pankey said he was charged with sexual assault after a 1977 accusation, but the charge was later dismissed by prosecutors. He said that incident led to a fraught relationship with law enforcement, and he alleged that he has been charged over the years with as many as 20 “arbitrary” misdemeanors.

After the sexual assault charge, Pankey stepped down from his position as a youth minister. He said he attended a church with people who knew the Matthews family, but contends that he did not know any of the family members.
...
He said he met with an FBI agent at the Greeley police station after hearing about Matthews’s death because his father-in-law, who worked for a cemetery, said someone asked about getting rid of a body, the Idaho Statesman reported. Pankey left Greeley in 1987 and has not returned to Colorado.

“I never met Jonelle, I never met her family, I didn’t know she existed or disappeared until Wednesday, Dec. 26 [1984],” Pankey told the Idaho Statesman.

 

[oviedo]

Greeley police processing new evidence in Jonelle Matthews case, sending to CBI for forensic analysis

A day after confirming bones found earlier this week at an oil and gas site in rural Weld County are the skeletal remains of Jonelle Matthews, Greeley police announced Friday they are preparing to send various pieces of evidence collected at the scene to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for forensic testing.

Joe Tymkowych, spokesman for the Greeley Police Department, declined to comment about what specific evidence the agency has collected. However, he did say detectives also are investigating certain historical records from the area where Matthews’ remains were found.
...
Police are scanning historical records to try to determine who might have owned the land where Matthews’ remains were found since she went missing more than three decades ago. Police also are trying to determine if anyone had farming or ranching leases there over the years, as well as who has resided in a bank of farm houses on Weld 34 1/2.
...
Although the department has new items to analyze, it’s not yet known how time, the environment and other factors might have affected the evidence.

“We’ve processed several items and we’re submitting a lot of evidence to CBI for testing,” Tymkowych said. “Whether it’s been degraded over time to the point it’s no longer reliable? That’s another question, but we aim to find out.”
...
Some of the evidence on its way to CBI was collected Thursday during an autopsy performed by the Weld County Coroner’s Office, Tymkowych said.
...

Please, please, please let there be enough evidence to find out who did this!

So if they have search warrants now for the POI - was there DNA on her clothes that seemed so well-preserved IIRC? or other items missing from the home? I hope it is a match and there is justice for her. JMO

 

[oviedo]

@PommyMommy - did you see the latest?

 

[Legally Bland]

Can't see much of interest, but SP's Facebook:

Steve Pankey

 

[Mysteries1974]

I think it may have been him for real

 

[oviedo]

I think it may have been him for real

I do as well

 

[Onebest]

In The Tri City Herald

https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news...qvn5Ceqwwi2mKKYPv7rxZS6A2iodFS5bBPWCCNUX06EB0

Greeley Tribune: Not sure if this has been posted yet:

FBI weighs in on how child abduction investigations have changed since Jonelle Matthews disappearance | Greeley Tribune

 

[Luckyzmom]

It's amazing that after all these years, clothing was still intact and we all hope dna was able to be analyzed ! And a possible perp identified. Praying for the family and her friends. And LE it give this sweet gal justice !! MOO. Thanks so much for these posts ! You all are amazing

 

[flgrl017]

Does the poi have children that would have been around her age? I wonder if he was at the concert or the ball game that night.

 

[PommyMommy]

@PommyMommy - did you see the latest?

Thanks for tagging me, as I'm very behind ATM... No, I hadn't seen this yet and wowzers! MOO

 

[SAMS]

Hmmmm.

 

[SuziQ]

Suspect: Steve Pankey https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article234982707.html

Wow! This is incredible!

 

[flgrl017]

About

There’s his website.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Does the poi have children that would have been around her age? I wonder if he was at the concert or the ball game that night.

his "youngest son" was 20 in 2008 so he may have... maybe a little younger...

 

[Gardener1850]

About

There’s his website.

I'm surprised it's still up. There's some hinky things in that about section. MOO.
Quoting it all here in case the website is pulled:

Steve was born in Ventura, California. His father was a Youth For Christ leader who taught Steve traditional 1950's Christian Liberty minded core values. Steve's Baptist Church supported Senator Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn's efforts to expose Communist - Globalists in American Government.

On March 09, 1954 TV show See it Now host Edward R. Murrow denounced Senator McCarthy's campaign to get Communist-Globalists out of the American Government. Steve's father bought a portable TV to watch Senator McCarthy's April 06, 1954 rebuttal. Steve watched adults slowly change their views of Senator McCarthy, the dangers of Globalism by watching continuous TV news portraying Senator McCarthy in an unfavorable light. Decades later released government files would show Senator McCarthy's Communist-Globalist claims were accurate, but the truth was not 'worthy' TV news. Steve watched Christian adults change their minds about the dangers of Globalism through the powerful influence of television.

Steve regularly watched the popular Superman children's TV show. On TV adults never seemed to get it that 'mild mannered' reporter Clark Kent was really Superman in disguise. Steve watched as both children and adults beliefs and televisons beliefs slowly but surely became one and the same. Could Americans be led astray by a mild mannered television reporter?

Steve graduated from La Puente Alternative High School during his rebellious years. Steve graduated from Aims Community College in Greeley, Colorado, with a minor in Criminal Justice. Steve's criminal justice studies included the study of people who acted without a conscience. Could the news media be a study in people who act without a conscience?
In the mid 1990's Steve subcontracted property management from the Sun Valley Company, Sun Valley, Idaho. By chance Steve attended an Allen and Company United Nations Agenda 21 talk. Steve was shocked to see nationally respected TV journalists laughing as the speaker referred to the passive American masses as "useful idiots." Steve later learned the two major annual globalist news media events are at the Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, California, and the annual Allen and Company event in Sun Valley, Idaho.

About

 

[SuziQ]

His past as a youth minister is disturbing.