http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22109365/detail.html
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GREELEY, Colo. -- Two and a half decades later, there are still no answers.
The 12-year-old girl who disappeared during Christmas week in 1984 is still gone, and there is no real hope that she will ever be seen again.
On the night of Dec. 20, 1984, Jonelle Matthews sang Christmas carols with her school choir and was taken home by a friend. When her father came home an hour later, she was gone.
trace has ever been found of Jonelle; no arrests, no evidential DNA, no answers.
This year, police have made arrests in two of Greeley's longtime mysteries: the Mary Pierce slaying and the Tina Tournai Sandoval disappearance. Those two cases will likely go to trial next year.
But not the Jonelle Matthews case. There are still too many unanswered questions.
Her parents, Jim and Gloria Matthews, had Jonelle officially declared dead in 1994, 10 years after her disappearance. There was a funeral service, and dozens of family friends said goodbye.
But in recent years, little has happened with the Matthews case. It's still considered an open case in the Greeley Police Department.
"We occasionally get a tip on the case, but that usually involves a body that was recovered somewhere," said Lt. Brad Goldschmidt. "If the body was old enough, they might contact us because Jonelle is still considered a missing person. But we haven't had anything for a few years."
Goldschmidt said Jonelle's DNA is on the national database now, in case something turns up, but they had no DNA from a suspect at the scene of her abduction. Her photo -- and an "age progressed" photo of what she would look like at 37 years old can be found on the Web site for
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
On the night she disappeared, Jonelle was driven home from a middle school concert by a friend and her mother. They dropped Jonelle in front of the house in the 300 block of 43rd Avenue in the Pheasant Run subdivision, and noted that the garage door already was open. The friends watched her walk into the house. They were the last people known to have seen the girl.
While she was home, she took a teacher's message for her father, who was the principal at Platte Valley Elementary School in Kersey.
Jim Matthews came home about an hour later, after attending a basketball game for his older daughter, Jennifer. He found Jonelle's shoes and a shawl near a space heater in the family room. Usually, when she watched TV, Jonelle would sit close to the heater.
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The Matthews still remember Jonelle's birthday, and still have the Christmas ornaments she made in elementary school. They hang them on the tree each Christmas.
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