neesaki
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Found Deceased CO - Jonelle Matthews, 12, Greeley, 20 Dec 1984 *arrest 2020*
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Sherlock Furby
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Hmm, why do you say that, @Cat01? What are you thinking?
I thought the same. Hoping to spend some more time researching this in the near future. It’s no excuse but I recently switched companies re: my career and personal time has been hard to come by. I have some connections with LE in the county I will reach out to and will make a trip to the library as well to see what I can dig up.
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crhedBngr
Justice for Danielle Stislicki
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That would be appreciated. And yes, switching careers IS an excuse, because your job comes before this.
Mysteries1974
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Yes, I hope to see someone arrested for Jonelles murder and abduction before the 35 year anniversary of her disappearance
Costa Rica doesn’t extradite
I googled today too - nothing
jaejae
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Here is a recent report about this case:
Steve Pankey, Person Of Interest In Jonelle Matthews Case, Hopes Girl's Killer Is Found
Steve Pankey, Person Of Interest In Jonelle Matthews Case, Hopes Girl's Killer Is Found
PayrollNerd
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Good find, thanks for the update.
Snips from the article. As usual, it’s all about him.
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) – On this day in 1984, Jonelle Matthews disappeared on her way home from a Christmas concert at her school in Greeley. That was the last time the 12-year-old girl was seen alive.
Then, in September, Greeley police named a person of interest – Steve Pankey – a former Idaho gubernatorial candidate who once lived in the same neighborhood as the Matthews, but now lives hundreds of miles away.
In a FaceTime interview with CBS4’s Kelly Werthmann from his Idaho home, Pankey explained he hasn’t lived in Colorado since 1987. He admitted he would often search the Internet for any information about Jonelle’s case as it rattled the community where he once lived. But he is very adamant he had nothing to do with Jonelle’s death.
“I keep reiterating that I didn’t know she existed or disappeared until six days after,” Pankey said. “It just bothered me over the years that [the case] hadn’t been resolved.”
“I want to emphasize I was there before the Matthews family came there,” he said. “I want people to know that I had never heard of and I didn’t know Jonelle Matthews existed until six days after the fact she disappeared.”
Months later, investigators are still not sharing if any DNA was found on the clothing unearthed with Jonelle’s remains that were discovered in July. Detectives also won’t reveal why Pankey is considered a person of interest.
Pankey said he is frustrated that he is part of the ongoing investigation, yet that isn’t stopping him from hoping the girl’s killer is found.
“I would hope that the terrible tragedy of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews is eventually solved,” he said. “Justly solved.”
crhedBngr
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I think the only logical answer that some have brought up is that this person knew the family and their schedule. Let me start by saying this isn’t a small town. Having 60,000 pop. is not small. The mother left that morning and the father was at a basketball game 20 minutes away. The person who did this knew that was going to happen. The timeline is too tight for this to be a coincidence imo. I think someone who would know this the best (if not SP) are going to be someone from the father’s school or their church. It has nothing to do with the church itself but the fact that conversations of the mother’s ill father would come up knowing she is going to fly out there and small talk on the dad going to the other daughter’s game.
SP is for sure a weird guy and needs to be looked at regardless if he did this or not. His record of stories, moves across states and run-ins with LE is very sketch. But if he did this murder how did he know she would be home alone that night? I checked the map and it would be about a 60 minute round trip from where the body was found in comparison to the city Greeley. The site is about 15 minutes directly south of Kersey. I assume his ex-wife said he was home all night? It would at least take 90 minutes for him to pull this off (minimum). Maybe he looked out the windows the night before leaving because he was nervous he was caught...
The father obviously had an alibi but did witnesses give testimony on when he left the game? He got home at least 30 min before his other daughter and he waited until then to call friends and then police. I doubt he would have enough time to pull this off and then not have evidence on him or in his vehicle.
The garage door being half open is interesting but there was no signs of forced entry or stolen valuables. There was also at least 30 minutes Jonelle was home before she was taken. That doesn’t seem to fit the bill of a caught intruder.
It’s unfortunate that a neighbor didn’t give more clues being the person who did it had to park a car nearby. He can’t carry her outside unwilling which is why I go back to she left with someone she knew.
SP is for sure a weird guy and needs to be looked at regardless if he did this or not. His record of stories, moves across states and run-ins with LE is very sketch. But if he did this murder how did he know she would be home alone that night? I checked the map and it would be about a 60 minute round trip from where the body was found in comparison to the city Greeley. The site is about 15 minutes directly south of Kersey. I assume his ex-wife said he was home all night? It would at least take 90 minutes for him to pull this off (minimum). Maybe he looked out the windows the night before leaving because he was nervous he was caught...
The father obviously had an alibi but did witnesses give testimony on when he left the game? He got home at least 30 min before his other daughter and he waited until then to call friends and then police. I doubt he would have enough time to pull this off and then not have evidence on him or in his vehicle.
The garage door being half open is interesting but there was no signs of forced entry or stolen valuables. There was also at least 30 minutes Jonelle was home before she was taken. That doesn’t seem to fit the bill of a caught intruder.
It’s unfortunate that a neighbor didn’t give more clues being the person who did it had to park a car nearby. He can’t carry her outside unwilling which is why I go back to she left with someone she knew.
Moonracer
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Way too many "coincidences" - hope the police continue to investigate. MOO
Niner
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Are you a local? If so - you can sign up as an "insider" and won't need any MainStreamMedia to tell us stuff!
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Legally Bland
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He's been named a suspect in MSM. But I'm not sure what to think. The whole Steve Pankey thing is confusing.
Greeley police and local FBI agents immediately zeroed in on Jim Matthews as the primary suspect in Jonelle’s disappearance. So much so the following morning, when it was time for Jennifer to go to school, police dropped her off at Greeley Central.
“Being a suspect early on, I knew what they were doing and I respected it,” Jim said of the early phase of the investigation. “A lot of times it is a parent, whether it’s a custodial situation or worse, so for many months after it happened I was number one.”
Jim coped with the pressure of being constantly scrutinized by law enforcement by telling himself they were just doing their jobs. In hindsight, he said his coping skills were probably too convincing.
“I was calm about the whole thing, which must have been a red flag,” Jim said. “But the way I saw it was I’m going to cooperate because I want my daughter back.”
Jim was at the top of the suspect list for more than six months. During that time, he took a polygraph test with FBI agents. Jim’s patience finally wore thin when about a month after that, Greeley police called him asking him to take another lie detector test at the department.
Jonelle Matthews disappearance anniversary: Timeline of events | GreeleyTribune.com
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