Jonelle Matthews investigation: Chronicling the 34-year search for missing Greeley 12-year-old
The vivacious 12-year-old disappeared in 1984. Her remains were found this week.
July 26, 2019
"Five days before Christmas 1984, Jim and Gloria Matthews and their two daughters were all going in different directions.
Gloria flew out of state to spend time with her father. Jennifer, then 16, played basketball in the Greeley Central High School gym. Jim took 12-year-old Jonelle to Franklin Middle School, where she got on a bus and rode to a nursing home to sing Christmas carols. After Jonelle’s outing, a friend watched her enter the front door of her home.
It was the last time anyone ever reported seeing Jonelle until Tuesday, when her bones were discovered buried by a work crew excavating in a rural part of Weld County near County Road 49 and County Road 34½, Greeley police said. The coroner’s office has confirmed the remains were those of Jonelle. Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams said his deputies are treating Jonelle’s death as a homicide.
The following is an account featured in The Denver Post’s Colorado Cold Cases blog in November 2012 chronicling developments in the search for Jonelle Matthews based on dozens of news stories over a span of 28 years:..."
Colorado Cold Cases: Jonelle Matthews vanished after singing Christmas carols at a nursing home