Crime Junkie - WANTED: A Christmas Killer

Episode Date: December 23, 2019

5 days before Christmas in 1984, 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews went missing from her Colorado home and she wouldn't be discovered for over three decades. In the course of the investigation one man's bizarre actions have put him front and center on police's radar and they call him a person of interest in this Christmas killing.  For current Fan Club membership options and policies, please visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/. Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/wanted-christmas-killer/

Hi crime junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt, and you guys we are here Christmas and all because we know that you crime junkies need your fix so Instead of taking the week off we decided to bring you an extra special Christmas episode because we all know Evil does not take time off around the holidays and there is still a Christmas killer out there needing to be caught Five days before Christmas in 1984 Janelle Matthews insisted on going to school despite the fact that she had been pretty sick like the two days before and had to stay home So she had missed those days was like begging her mom to let her go for a couple of reasons

one she had handmade some Christmas gifts for friends that she really wanted to give to them and Two that night was a Christmas concert that she wanted so badly to perform in So Janelle's parents agreed to let her go to school and participate in the concert But with one condition after the concert you go home and rest Which wasn't ideal because Janelle's sister Jennifer had a basketball game that night that she wanted to go to But she'd have to cut her losses two out of three ain't bad, right? Yeah So Janelle goes to school that day. She sees her friends goes to class does all of the wonderful things a seventh grader does Then she goes home to get ready for her Christmas concert

Now today there was a little more hustle and bustle around the Matthews house than normal because Along with the Christmas concert and Jennifer's basketball game that night Janelle's mom Gloria was taking a late flight from Colorado where they lived to where her parents lived in California I guess her father had been really sick. So she was gonna go spend some time with him So that evening everyone's like getting their stuff together Janelle and her dad Jim say bye to mom and Jennifer actually wasn't home I pretty sure she actually stayed after school for her game instead of coming home So it's just Janelle and dad they say bye to mom They get into the car go grab a bite to eat before Jim drops Janelle back off at her middle school

This is Franklin Middle School and basically there was a bus there That was taking all of the kids that were in this choir to a local bank for this Christmas concert Now Denver Post reported that she was doing a concert at a nursing home But other reports that I can find like from the Colorado Sun the Greeley Tribune all say that it was at a bank Which I corroborated with a video released by police So she was doing the concert at a bank that night Okay Now because her mom was out of town and her dad went to Jennifer's basketball game

No one from Janelle's family was actually able to attend the concert that night So when Jim said goodbye to Janelle and pulled out of the school parking lot He had no way of knowing that that would be the last time he would ever see his little girl again According to a project done by the Colorado State University's advanced reporting class when the concert was over Janelle followed one of her friends named Deanna Ross out to her car where Deanna's dad was waiting to pick her up And so Janelle asked Deanna's dad Russ if he could like give her a ride home Which he agreed to was it the plan all along for him to give her a ride? From what I can tell it seems like Russ wasn't planning on giving her a ride

He just agreed to give her one when she like ran up to the car after a concert So she didn't have any sort of plan on how to get home. I mean, I guess not which I guess Seems weird today, but this is kind of like a small town Greeley, Colorado in 1984 Like I'll just catch a ride home with a friend was probably a very normal thing to do So Russ drives Janelle to her place and as she's getting out of the car He makes note of something something that maybe didn't make him outright worry in that moment But something that was strange enough that it stuck in his mind According to an article in the Denver Post written by Kirk Mitchell the garage door of the family home was open

Now just as he's making like note of this Janelle flicks on the light inside Indicating that she made it in safe and so Russ and Deanna drive away Now Janelle was dropped off sometime between 8 and 8 30 p.m And we know she was definitely home by 8 30 because around this time someone calls the home phone and Janelle answers Now this calls from a teacher at a local elementary school and Janelle's dad was actually the principal at that school So this teacher was calling to let Jim know that they were sick and wouldn't be into work tomorrow So Jim would need to get coverage for their class Now Jim still isn't home from the basketball game at this point

So Janelle jots down like a little note leaves it by like the family message board, which is by the phone and Sometime either before or after the call Janelle had like kicked off her shoes gotten cozy in the living room She's like had the TV on she turned on this little space heater Like put her slippers on ready to really just settle in for the night and wait for her dad and sister to get home But something would happen in the short hour between when Janelle took that phone message from a teacher And when her dad pulled up to the house at 9 30 When Jim pulls up to the house, he notices the same thing rusted Mike Peters of the Greeley Tribune reported that the garage door was still open

When Jim gets inside he kind of calls out for Janelle like says hey Janelle, but the house is just kind of extra quiet He doesn't get any response and it's almost too quiet for his vivacious and spunky pre-teen to have been home Like Janelle had a big personality and you knew if she was there So when Jim peeks into the living room, he can tell that she was just there Like she's got her whole little setup the heaters turned on the pillows right there in front of the TV Like right as she would normally be posted up So Jim just kind of assumes that Janelle had maybe run across the street maybe to a neighbor She's gonna be right back. So he decides to go wrap some Christmas presents and wait for her

He'd see Janelle come in the door any minute now but Minutes went by and Janelle didn't come home A half hour after Jim got home Jennifer made it home from her basketball game Oh, I I guess I kind of assumed that she had gone home with her dad No, I couldn't find much detail on why but I think that's because it's kind of unimportant Like when I played sports like I would often stay after either you're in a shower or you're just hanging out with your friends Like you're you know what I mean? Like it's totally different. So I don't think it's super weird and she was 16

I didn't see anything about her having a car, but it's totally possible. She could have driven herself Right. So she gets home at like 10 and by this time Jim is very worried He asked Jennifer if Janelle was with her like hoping maybe somehow she'd gotten to the game Even though her parents told her she couldn't go but Jennifer hasn't seen her sister all night And I can imagine that this is when panic starts to set in for Jim And he didn't know what to do at first like nothing bad happened Nothing could happen, right? Like he had to be overreacting but where is Janelle? So I read another article from the Greeley Tribune written by a guy named Joe Moylan

And he said that the first person Jim called wasn't the police. It was actually his pastor That seemed like an odd choice. Well, not really for Jim. So James Christie was the pastor was actually one of his closest friends at that time not just his pastor So I mean you 100% texted me once when you thought Justin was missing. So I get it very true So anyway, he calls his pastor friend to say like, you know, this was happening What should I do? And I'm sure he was hoping for some kind of reassurance like, oh, everything's gonna be fine You're overreacting but James didn't think Jim was overreacting. He told him you should call the police and you should call them now Within 15 minutes police arrive at the Matthews home and they're concerned too

The TV room looks as though she had just been there. There was that pillow that was that space heater Just like Jim described and a pair of slippers were missing and Janelle's shoes were there in the house along with that note So they knew she made it home to a place where she should have been safe. But then somehow Just vanished. Well and and for her shoes to be there But her slippers to be missing like they have to be assuming that something happened inside the house, right? Yeah, I mean I would think yeah, like she wouldn't have just walked outside without her shoes. It's winter Exactly and now there is something else that was left behind in the TV room But there are contradicting reports on what that was so the Denver Post said that there were

Stockings left on the couch and the Greeley Tribune said that a shawl was left behind near the space heater Now all of the articles that I found mentioned one or the other So I don't know if it's possible that both were found or if it was just one thing and it keeps getting mixed up And there's really no clarity on what they mean by stockings. Like are those socks? Are those tights now on Sluice there was a commenter who said that Her stockings and underwear were left behind But I couldn't corroborate that from any legitimate news sources So I like I don't think we can assume that underwear was there

We just have some kind of stockings and I think what people often insinuate is that because her stockings were there Maybe there was some kind of sexual assault, but I again have never heard that report Yeah, and I mean the person that's insinuating sexual assault is the motive But if all we have are stockings like if they're just like legit 80s tights Like I would rip those off immediately when I was a little kid Oh my god same like to this day like if I have to write kind of like tights like the second I get home They come up so whatever kinds of stockings these were like it was stockings at all Police take note of this and start looking around for any clues now

The only things of interest ever spoken about publicly were footprints around the home and in the backyard And possibly a missing gas can Now as more and more police arrived at the Matthews home and concerned for Janelle grew A phone call came in that would be extremely hard for Jim to take Some time between midnight and 1 a.m. Gloria had finally landed and arrived at her parents home in california So she called home to let Jim know that she had made it safely But Jim wasn't like sounding tired or wound down like she expected something was wrong as soon as Jim answered that phone Jim explained to her what was going on that police had come by they had no idea where Janelle was

But she had come home from the concert and Gloria told the Greeley tradition that the police had come by And Gloria told the Greeley Tribune that in that moment she knew something was wrong Because of how late and dark it was when Janelle was reported missing a formal surge didn't really get underway until the next morning According to the Denver Post the FBI was brought in right away And they started looking everywhere for Janelle and talking to everyone she knew Like she was 12 going on 13 at the time So a lot of the questions they were asking revolved around whether or not Janelle would have willingly taken off on her own But everyone in her life said there's just no way

It wasn't a possibility that should be considered and it was a sentiment that reconfirmed what police already thought again Who leaves home in their slippers with the space heater on and doesn't take anything with them Slowly a reward fund began to mount it started at just like $5,000 but continually growing as people within the community Tried to support the Matthews family In the early days of the investigation without any sign of Janelle and little to no physical evidence Only two persons of interest were on police's radar The first was Jim Matthews Janelle's dad Their suspicions of Jim I think were based on a couple of key factors and one is purely statistics

The polycloth foundation and nick mick both state that statistically if a child goes missing It's more likely as a result of something done by a family member rather than a stranger And the only family member to have last seen her to have possibly been in the home with her was Jim And it didn't help that Jim wasn't acting the way that police expected him to he was just Too calm throughout the whole thing So they kept an eye on him over the next few months just watching him looking into him And while looking into him and the family as a whole they stumbled across their second person of interest Janelle's mother Gloria

No, not gloria Police learned that Janelle had actually been adopted as an infant after having Jennifer Jim and gloria struggled to get pregnant again So they decided to open their home to another child in need now at the time They were living in california and there was this agency out of los angeles that placed janelle with the family So she had grown up knowing she was adopted like it's not like this was a big secret But she had never had any contact with her biological mother who police learn had given birth to janelle when she was just 13 years old But police kind of wondered like maybe this woman came looking for janelle like again statistically

It's often parents who are involved in the disappearance and now they have like possibly another set of parents to be looking at So really the two people on their radar at this point are Jim and the biological mother and they're watching them both now for again months while police were watching them Christmas came and went Janelle's presence were still sitting under the tree still raft Slowly 1984 turned into 1985 and just weeks into the investigation now The matthews were more distraught than ever, but they were getting support from unlikely places The daily sentinel reported that just a couple of weeks into the investigation the father of another missing girl actually came to help 15 year old beth miller had disappeared the year before in 83

She was out for a run near her idaho springs colorado home and just never returned So beth's dad knew all too well the pain that the matthews were enduring and what an uphill battle It was to try and locate a missing kid How far is really from idaho springs like are they thinking that they could be connected? So I looked into this a little the two cities are just about an hour and a half drive from one another But from what I can tell there hasn't been any formal connection between these two cases And the girls didn't have any kind of like Things in common or common connections common people

So I really think beth miller's dad just came out to show support for the family and to help them navigate the confusing And overwhelming waters that they were now in Before anyone knew it was february 9th, which would have been janelle's 13th birthday With still no sign of her on her birthday a massive search was conducted One that the denver post called the largest in greeley history and included 600 volunteers But nothing was reportedly found Janelle's parents did a ton of press in those first few months And they passed out thousands of flyers trying to get as many people as possible to see janelle's pictured

Janelle was even one of the earliest cases of a missing child to be featured on a milk carton But all of this was getting them no closer to janelle And it was becoming apparent to her family that police were still focusing on jim and janelle's bio mom Now they watched her bio mom for six months day in and day out following her tracing her steps But after six months they were confident in ruling her out as a suspect They said she had nothing to do with the disappearance and nothing in the last six months Led them to believe that she had any kind of connection to janelle. Did she know she was a suspect like at all? Like I know you said that she had never had contact with janelle

But I'm kind of wondering if this was like her first introduction to janelle and her family Was just like finding out that her biological daughter was missing No, so I don't believe that she had any knowledge at the time that police were watching her for the entire Six months that they were surveilling her they never actually approached her or they didn't try to ever let on to the fact that She was being watched and I mean this is kind of muddy waters, right? Like I don't know the exact reason for this I don't know if legally they couldn't make the connection or if they were trying to just handle this situation very delicately by choice I mean either way her bio mom had no idea that they were watching her and no idea

That her daughter was even a missing person at the time In those same six months that they were watching her they were also leaning hard on jim According to the greeley tribune jim was administered a polygraph by the fbi and the results as far as I know Were never released but a month after this first polygraph They asked him to take another and this is when jim told joe moyland that he started to get mad He was basically like listen I get why you had to look at me I was happy to cooperate like I even get why you looked at me and like didn't like me because I

I acted weird like I was very calm. I didn't act how you want like I was trying to keep it together So you guys could do your job But I'm at the point where like I'm over it now stop looking at me and go find who actually took my daughter But there were no other suspects no leads that they could follow Until the middle of 1985 when something shocking was discovered Seemingly out of nowhere the greeley police were contacted by the weld county sheriff's office. Now greeley was in weld county So this is a local agency. They would have been very familiar with but the weld county sheriff herald andrews tells greeley police

Hey I have a piece of scalp over here. Wait, what? Yeah scalp He says it's human and it has medium-length dark brown hair On it and he knew janelle had had dark brown hair and he said I think maybe you should come check this out in relation to that missing person case you guys have and naturally everyone's like Kind of shocked and like of course asking all the important questions like where did you find this? When did you find this? How did you find this? Yeah, and sheriff andrews tells him?

Well, this piece is really small like maybe an inch or two in diameter And it was brought to this farmhouse by the farm dog who had found it somewhere And people called us when they realized like what it was So the greeley police are like, okay, like this is how you got it. Did this just happen? Like when did this happen? And the sheriff says no, it didn't just happen It happened two months ago He's been sitting on this information for two months. Yeah, like has he never worked a missing person's case in his entire life? That is awful. Yeah, I don't know what kind of cases he's worked

But the csu class reported that andrews waited to tell like anyone about this because He said he was trying to verify that it was actually human and he didn't want to worry anyone before then So, you know, I think everyone's trying to do their best job But but like time is critical like it would have been great to like check this out early on Maybe greeley police has connections or could have like done this testing fast or whatever they did in two months to finish Done this testing fast or whatever they did in two months to figure out that it was human It just seems like a long time So when greeley police finally get possession of that scalp, they send it off to the fbi for analysis

But things like this take time a lot of time the matthew's family wouldn't get results from that testing for months But in october of 1985 the results do come back Now, I don't know what testing was done exactly like we know just from the time period that it probably wasn't dna This is 1985. So my best guess is that they were doing some kind of hair analysis testing But ultimately the results on whether or not this hair scout belonged to janelle came back as inconclusive And the next thing they do is heart breaking to me when they couldn't make any conclusive Determinations about this through testing. They asked gloria to actually look at the scalp to see if the hair was like her daughter So she had to go in she had to view it

She had to touch the hair knowing that this could be all that was left of her youngest daughter But gloria said that the hair didn't feel right. It wasn't her daughters gloria made this determination in november of 1985 and the one-year anniversary of janelle's disappearance was approaching The family was going to have to spend another christmas with part of their family missing After that first year gloria eventually gave away janelle's christmas presents And it was really starting to feel more final janelle might never come home and even worse than that They might never know where she is or what happened on that night back in 1984 One year turned into two and then five

And it would be eight years before there was a new lead in the investigation and the new lead came from 500 miles away In 1992 grily police get a call from a department in south dakota And they tell them a man has been arrested and in his home They found a bunch of newspaper clippings of a bunch of missing children and one of them was janelle So police looked into this extensively But this man seemingly had no connection to janelle or her family and they found out that he was nowhere near grily at the time of her Disappearance. So eight years and they just got another dead end Finally in 1994 10 years after janelle's disappearance her family had her legally declared dead

You know this brought with it some closure. The family was able to have a little ceremony They had a place they could visit her if they wanted to but she wasn't actually there Yeah, just two years after she was declared dead The matthew's family got another shock when they received a letter in the mail Not from someone claiming to know about the case But rather the letter came from janelle's birth mom and according to the washington post She wanted to finally meet janelle, which is something gloria knew janelle had always wanted But now it was too late gloria had to make contact with the woman and tell her the circumstances of what had happened

Oh my gosh, like as someone who was adopted and has adopted kids like I cannot imagine like having that conversation even if something had happened to my kids biological family and They had wanted to reach out and that wasn't a possibility like that alone would be heartbreaking but to be an adoptive mom and be trusted with someone else's kids And then have to have that conversation with them saying like I know that you put your daughter in my hands And she's not here like that. I'm literally about to cry. I didn't stop talking about it Yeah, it was super hard for gloria, but something that she knew she had to do. Yeah, of course

Now more time passes for the family and like so many cases janelle's goes cold and gets Overshadowed through the years by bigger cases like example jambanay ramsey in colorado like many people eventually Like didn't know the case unless you lived in grily like everyone outside of her hometown never even knew her name But the matthews could never forget They thought about janelle every single day Even as their lives moved on and they moved away from grily colorado like they would never be able to forget her or what happened Now over the 30-year time span following janelle's disappearance the family moved around a lot and lived even overseas some like I know they spent some time in the philippines and eventually gloria and jim retired to costa rica

gloria and jim said that they had come to the realization Long before it had been 30 years that they probably would never get answers But it was their faith that kept them strong and you know brit i'm not like overly religious But there was this particular story that gloria told joe moylen that broke my heart She said about six months in she was just driving along. She was you know praying for janelle's safe return And as she drove she said this quote I always end my prayers with lord. You know that we're going to give you all the honor and the glory if we find janelle The next instant he's asking me will you give me all of the honor and the glory if you never find her?

That hit me so hard. I started falling right there on 35th avenue and 10th street at the time. You're not ready to give up It's just still so close end quote So for 30 years gloria was still living in those words that she heard what if you never find her Now little things would spark hope over the years in 2014 remains were found in greeley and everyone Speculated that it could be janelle, but it was quickly ruled out And there was a brief time when a girl came forward claiming to be janelle But it was quickly again determined that it wasn't her and there are all these little pings of hope that come and go and just quickly

Dashed but the most hope came in 2018 when the greeley police make a shocking announcement They are taking a fresh look at the case They're going to get it active again and start exploring all possible leads They said and it seemed incredibly promising at the time because again in that joe moelen article in the greeley tribune He wrote quote Thanks to new evidence police think there are people in the community or the surrounding area Who might have information about janelle's disappearance that wasn't previously shared with law enforcement and quote And the article went on to say that the investigators were focusing in

Extra hard on the concert that janelle performed at before she disappeared Now in conjunction with making this statement police also released video from that concert That shows janelle the day that she met missing and brit i'm gonna send this to you. Tell me what you notice most about this video Okay, so it looks like a pretty normal christmas concert Um, you know, they're just singing. It's yeah pretty normal. She's wearing like a red shirt Yeah, like this so this video is released by the police and they actually like circle like who she is so we can like spot her Yeah, she's wearing like a red shirt a blue jumper um

But what's really bothering me is that the camera is focused on her the entire time, right? Like she is centered in the frame the whole time. Yeah now There was no information about this video released So we don't know who took it like where the police got it from and it's totally possible That maybe they cropped it down so we could see her better, but it's super weird, right? Definitely Now there's also a lot of speculation online that in this video Which by the way, we'll have a link to the Greeley police facebook page where you can find this video for yourself It'll be on the website

But there's a lot of speculation that at one point in the clip People think that she's looking at someone and like makes a face and i'll be totally honest I don't see it, but for those who do the question becomes Who is she looking at since none of her family was there? Well, and I mean you said it like it's a super small town I would think that she would know a lot of people there. Yeah, I agree again I don't even see it at all, but I don't read much into all of this, but I get why they want to look at it I mean all these years later

I think a couple of things have become very clear to police like number one Janelle was abducted She didn't just walk off number two. It wasn't by a family member. I mean at this point years and years and years later They've ruled out her dad. They've ruled out her bio mom and most importantly. I think the person Had to have either known or been watching Janelle like they only had a one hour window How did they know that her mom was gone and her dad and sister were gone? Like Were they the one to open the garage door? If so, how? So police make it clear to the public. They're looking for someone local or at least someone who was local back in 1984 and it felt like they were onto something like any day now

They were going to make an announcement that they'd cracked the case But then after this announcement in December 2018 Nothing happened. No arrests. No big announcements So once again the Matthews had to come to grips with the fact that answers may never come Even with all of the fresh eyes in the world on the investigation and all the people who cared it just wasn't coming together Gloria continued to lean on her faith and she and Jim tried to cherish the daughter that they still had And after living in Costa Rica for some time They decided to move back to the state specifically to the state of Washington where Jennifer was living because they wanted to be close to her

but Just a couple of days before they listed their house for sale Gloria and Jim got the call that they thought was never coming Janelle had been found After over 30 years the Matthews knew that finding Janelle wasn't going to be finding her alive But this is more than they thought they would ever get they finally had their daughter back and could properly lay her to rest Now Janelle's remains had been found purely by luck or fate or whatever you want to call it In July of 2019 workers attempting to dig an oil pipeline were the ones to actually find her remains

And her remains were not too far deep. It's like in the middle of this field in the middle of nowhere Now they're partially covered in deteriorating clothing that matched what Janelle had been wearing at that Christmas concert the night that she disappeared Where was this that she was found so it was like this big open field And it was about 18 miles south of Greeley according to the colorado sun Oh, so like pretty close to her home, right? Right, so finding her was obviously an incredible leap forward in this investigation and by september of 2019 Just two months after finding her police would go from having an absolutely ice cold case to Naming publicly a person of interest

In september they named a man that the matthew's family says they'd never heard of Steve pankey. Who is this guy? Where did he come from? Well, what we learned from police is that Steve pankey had put himself right in police's sights But not just after her body was found he had inserted himself into the investigation Within weeks of janelle going missing and according to an article from fox denver police say That through the years pankey made multiple efforts to re-contact police What was his angle? Like why was he contacting the police at all? So this is where things get kind of bonkers. Are you ready for this?

So police make this announcement about steve being a person of interest and so steve does like a Press tour and gives a couple of videotaped interviews and interviews for print as well where he explains why police are looking at him And his connection to the case and they are weird Now keep in mind police have announced him as a person of interest But he tells the idaho statesman that police consider him a suspect So he's the only one naming himself a suspect Now, I think the most informative interview he did was with kvtb. It's this 51 minute long video And we're going to link to that video on our website if you want to watch the whole thing

And usually like I give you all the highlights and it's not a hundred percent necessary But i'm going to need you all to go watch this and tell me what you think because there is So much to unpack here So here is what steve tells them about how he first made contact with police and why he's on their radar He says that he never met the matthews family in his whole life never knew them never knew janelle Even though they lived just minutes away from one another On the night janelle went missing Steve says that he was at home with his then wife and son now again

He lived a couple of miles away from her so from his front door to her open garage door It would only have been like a four minute drive or maybe like a 20 to 30 minute walk maybe faster if you're walking fast So he says he's at his home and without being asked anything about his car He makes a point to talk about how his car is parked in the driveway And it's just like packed to the brim with stuff because they're planning on leaving the next morning to go visit his parents for Christmas I don't like that at all And it actually kind of brings me back to part of the story that we tell in our live show Like why is the car important?

Are you telling us it was full because you're trying to put it Like it it our minds that it couldn't have been used for anything Oh girl if you're going to spiral on everything he says this is going to be a four hour episode like i'm telling Like i'm telling you there's a lot of weird stuff in here So he says on that night the 20th He's home and you know the car is packed to the brim in the driveway And he decides to look out of his window to see the snowfall coming down because he said that he was worried that

He might not be able to get out if there's too much snow because they just had like this two-wheel drive car So he's looking out his window and he says that a car Which he assumes to be from like the sheriff's office though I think in some places he says it's unmarked this car pulls into his property with the lights on and he thinks to himself Oh another arbitrary charge is coming my way. I'm sorry. What? Yeah, it's a weird thing to think But he says multiple times throughout his interview that he had this like Sorted past with the Greeley police and all these local law enforcement agencies for that matter

When talking about his troubles with the police He says quote. I have a gay background Which really doesn't make sense right away But if you watch the whole video like he talks way later about how he had this relative who was gay and killed in police custody like back in the 40s or something So I think he's kind of insinuating that police didn't At least like when he was like growing up like didn't take well to homosexuality and like, you know, there was this like stigma

There was this prejudice Okay But here's the thing like he didn't have problems with police because of his quote gay background like he puts it He had a sorted history with police because he kept having run-ins with the law So while working as a youth pastor at a local church He was accused of rape and this was back in the 70s and the charges did eventually end up being dropped But he lost his position in the church over it now In this interview he tried to explain it away and his explanation to me like doesn't help

It's almost more problematic. He says he was sleeping with this woman She got pregnant She went overseas to england had an abortion and then comes back and he says he superpisted her because she did that without asking his permission And he says that when she came back they had sex one more time And then after they had sex he threatens to like go tell the church about her abortion because they're both like very heavily involved in this church So in his mind, he says this is why she accuses me of rape. Wait a minute I feel like there is so much to unpack in just like that one paragraph. No, I'm telling you this interview is crazy

I mean even in this one story, there's like some very clear misogyny emotional extortion with like a touch of hypocrisy But this is an all so in addition to this allegation There were other charges against him for harassment and according to steve There were like 20 separate incidents where he had run-ins with the law and he says most were dropped A couple went to jury trials and he says that he won every single case Do you know anything else about the harassment charges? Like is there like a defined victim profile? No, so I don't know anything at all I do know again This is all from his interview that one of the harassment charges that went to trial was brought by his aunt

And she said that he was leaving her harassing phone calls And another harassment charge was from a man who steve describes as quote He was a friend of mine. I'll just put it that way So I don't know how to fully like read between the lines here But the point is he's not a squeaky clean dude like he had some run-ins with the law So in his mind when he's looking out this window to see the snowfall and this car that he thinks is like a sheriff's deputy Pulls into his driveway. He thinks they're coming for him Which listen background or no background with law enforcement. I think it's a weird thing to think like

I don't know. I haven't been the target of police scrutiny yet knock on wood But like it's almost Christmas a car pulls into your driveway and your first thought is that police are coming for you Yeah, like not maybe your neighbor's bringing cookies over or something super innocent Or even just someone like took a wrong turn and is like turning around in your driveway But whoever was in the car. He says parks there for a little bit Their lights are on the house. Then they turn around and leave Now when he's telling the story, he makes a note again Like when he's talking about this car coming in and out of the his like property

He makes a note again about how his car is there and his car is packed to the max Now he says he didn't think any more of the car and went inside Then him and his family got up the next morning super early at like three or four in the morning and left town So he says they drive in silence. There's no radio on so he wouldn't have heard any reports of Janelle being missing that night He says it wasn't until they all returned to colorado on the 26th that he first heard Janelle's name on the radio And this is when he first learns that she's missing But even then he said it didn't like ring any bells for him. He just made note of it Then the next day on the 27th

He said his father-in-law came over a father-in-law that according to steve He is not on speaking terms with at the time But this father-in-law comes to his house and he decides to speak to him on this day And of all the things he could say He tells him an off the wall story Steve says that his father-in-law who is a groundskeeper at a cemetery tells him this He says a cop came to him and said that he had a body that need to be buried in a casket And that it would look bad for steve

so Steve says then that his first reaction is to ask his father-in-law if he's wearing a wire for police And like he doesn't really explain why his mind went there But he said he didn't know what was going on and like it all of it felt fishy But his father-in-law wouldn't say anymore and then just left And this is where like a conspiracy kind of starts to build in steve's mind He says it was the police who are responsible So he calls his lawyer to find out what he should do, but his lawyer is out of the country for a short time

So after he can't get ahold of his lawyer He decides that he wants to search his own property particularly close to where he had seen those headlights the night of the 20th But he ends up finding nothing Eventually his lawyer got back to him and advised him to go to the police with whatever information he had And steve said, you know in this interview He was super worried that if he didn't tell police his story that he would basically be charged with obstruction Which I don't know if like that's what his lawyer advised him or why he thought that but he says that's the reason He decides to call the FBI

He said I called the FBI because I didn't want to deal with green the police like we have such a sordid history But I wanted to call them and tell them the story that my father-in-law told me So the FBI takes a statement from him about this story But they also are asking him other questions because I mean it's a weird story So they're trying to learn more about steve and about his past like could he have any connection to janelle? And it turns out that the church that he was a youth pastor at was the same one janelle's family eventually went to But it seems like they started attending after he had already left But there's another loose connection to janelle

Steve had a sordid history with russ the dad who dropped off janelle the night that she went missing Russ and steve had worked together and had actually gone to court over some work related stuff Okay, but that seems like a pretty loose connection. No, I totally agree whatever reason police think steve pankey is a person of interest for I don't think it has to do with the church or with russ Or with russ now after this like initial interview with the FBI Steve says that he doesn't have much interaction with the cops He says he never talked to them while the cops say that steve reached out multiple times over the years trying to make contact Eventually steve and his family move away from colorado and they end up in idaho where he joins a latter day saints church

now this is the mid 90s at this point and Steve tells this story again totally unprompted and it's one of those that just make you go like huh He said that when he joined the church and got baptized the bishop asked him if there's anything that he wanted to confess Anything maybe that's weight heavy on him over the years And he says well There was this girl that went missing in colorado when I was living there She disappeared and I had this weird conversation with my father-in-law about it and it's always bothered me

Now again, this is like 92 93 according to him at this point So he's asked if in his life there has been anything that weighs heavy on his conscious and mind you we talked about kind of assorted past like lots of legal run-ins a woman who's accused him of rape and what weighs most on him is Like an off-handed story from a guy who's now deceased about a girl who went missing in your hometown 10 years ago I mean, I guess it's something that would stick with me if I had a conversation like that No, I mean listen, I believe it it would stick with me too

But our lives are very vanilla and we're obsessed with stories like this Now granted, I mean this was a big case in a small town So I'm sure it would stick with anyone and Steve tries to say as much He basically says like listen the town had never had anything like this happen. It was all that was talked about Here's the thing though. When he tries to like make this sentiment. He messes up bad I got a copy of the newspaper and the Janelle Matthews thing was all over it It was the only murder in the area that was at the time or disappearance at the time that was talked about So, um, I

What what I did is the very next week The only murder in the area at the time Murder now he corrected himself and we do know now, you know at the point that he's doing this interview We do know that she was murdered But when he's talking about this, he's like telling the story in the context of how things were in 84 No one knew it was a murder then you would expect him to say Disappearance if you're talking about how things unfolded and how you remember the town reacting in 1984 Now there really isn't a ton more that happens until December of 2018 when the case gets like rejuvenated by police

And he says this is really when he has the most contact with them again is after December of 2018 In april the case seemed to be picking up steam and remember this is before janelle had ever been found Police were tracking down steve's family members. So they're looking at him before they know that this is a murder investigation When it's still a missing person they're tracking down steve's family and according to steve in his interview Police called his aunt's home and he talks to her and her husband and they tell them that steve's name is all over the case file Now after talking to family steve says that police eventually come to visit him and he says he willingly talks to police says He even gives them a dna sample. He offers to take a polygraph He offers to take a voice stress test and he says he's the one that actually urged police to collect dna because he said

Listen, this is how it's all getting solved now all cases like this are getting solved a dna Like this is how i'm gonna clear my name. Yeah, but i mean it's been 34 years I mean after her body being out there like there's probably not that much dna to be found, right? Yeah, but here's the thing I think it's kind of a moot point because the colorado sun has reported that police say a dna collection Never happened. Why lie about it? I don't know but after janelle's body was discovered The heat gets turned up on sieve pankey and in early september his Idaho town home was served with a search warrant And it's kind of interesting what was on it like I have a copy of the warrant and i'll put that on our blog post

Basically, they're looking for all things digital which seems pretty standard, you know phones computers like any kind of storage Right, I imagine they're looking for like a history of him Maybe looking up her case any kind of communications maybe even illegal images on the computer It doesn't say but it says you know the warrant is served in connection with a kidnapping and a homicide But they also specifically call out in the warrant that they're looking for like diaries journals notes anything like that So are they thinking that if he had something to do with it? He was maybe like writing about it I have no idea so to give you a little bit of perspective It was just a week or two after they serve this warrant that they end up announcing that steve pankey is a person of interest

So I would assume That maybe they found something that would maybe help build a case as opposed to like ruling him out Like if you found nothing it seems like kind of a surprising thing To announce a person of interest when you didn't find anything, but here's the catch this all went down in september of 2019 Everyone's just been like holding their breath since because nothing has happened steve pankey has only been named a person of interest the only person who has ever called him a suspect has been himself He swears he had nothing to do with it and in the interview I saw he actually implies again that perhaps police were involved like and he it's super confusing

He kind of makes like reference to this like these powerful people that were connected in that local church They're basically saying there's some big conspiracy So did they ever search the house that he originally lived at like the one near genel's house? So I don't know if they ever searched the interior of the home I mean it's been a long time, but I know that they did dig up like three spots on the property But they didn't tell the press if they found anything when they did that So we are all just waiting It was a miracle that genel had been found her sister jennifer told the associated press that

It could have gone so many other ways if they would have dug You know one foot to the right one foot to the left her disappearance would still be a mystery to this day But it's not We know genel was murdered Now we just need another little miracle to help police prove who murdered her Well, we either need a miracle Or maybe a deal a deal. What do you mean? In that interview with ktvb the reporter asked steve

You know, there's someone who appears to be you That is commenting on some of the newspaper articles about this case and he brings up two comments specifically And one of the comments made by this person who looks like steve said quote Without a deal. This may never be resolved So the reporter asked him about this and he admits it was him You um At least you know it looks as if it was you uh that's commented on a few stories online Right the guerrilla tribune story as well as another one

Um Read the comments one of the comments was who question mark why question mark Yeah, and another comment was without a deal. This may never be resolved right What what did you mean for uh, what did you mean by without a deal? This may never be resolved Uh Just just that without a deal it it may never be resolved What kind of deal are uh, would you be looking for?

Well, not necessarily for me So we are left to wonder are police still working on building a case Or could it be time to make a deal to finally get justice virgin l and catch a christmas killer If you have any information that may be helpful in this case contact the greeley police tip line at 970-351-5100 We will have that number and a link to the greeley police site along with pictures from this case and sources that we used All at our website crimejunkiepodcast.com and be sure to follow us on instagram at crime junkie podcast And guys make note we will actually not be back next week with a new episode since we brought you on for christmas

We are going to take some time off for new years to be with our family But we'll be back january 6th with a brand new episode and stick around right now for a wonderful prepped of the month story Crime junkie is an audio chuck production. So what do you think chuck do you approve? Okay, ashley so today i'm going to tell you a little bit about a prophet named kortana, okay And kortana is a boxer mix who kind of got bounced around a few different humane societies in virginia She was actually adopted twice before our listener megan adopted her Which is just so sad um the first time she was returned because she wasn't allowed to stay in the home that originally adopted her Due to like the landlord's disapproval

And the second time the family soon welcomed a new baby So kortana was just too much for them to keep and they brought her back again And when megan and her boyfriend first met kortana at the humane society She was the only dog in the kennels not barking and just absolutely going nuts They were in college They had just moved into a new apartment building and they were like we could do a quiet dog And asked to take her into the playroom where she immediately brightened up started zooming around Throwing toys in the air for herself to cut in her cage. Yeah, and they knew kortana was the perfect

for them And since that day in 2016 kortana has been adventuring with them non stop They've gone from virginia to washington dc both the carolinas and like honestly all of the northeast coast including new york city for the macy's thanksgiving day in 2017 And kortana has done all sorts of amazingly fun things with them that like my dogs. I was just gonna say I feel like this dog is more well traveled than some humans. I know Oh wait till you hear she has gone to a major league baseball game hiked to the aterondacks blue ridge mountains Even gone to niagara falls

Like seriously way more traveled than me. Yeah, even how? They're now all settled in montreal kebac And megan said that this year has been a little bit tough because right around her fifth birthday They discovered that she had a mast cell tumor and They decided to throw her a huge birthday party at her favorite place in montreal La doggie cafe where she had her very own birthday cake that she devoured And a few weeks after her birthday she had her big surgery in may to have her tumor removed

And even though it was super super scary kortana has been recovering just fine I would literally hold in my breath this whole time No, she spent all summer kayaking swimming and even running with megan a few times while she was training for a marathon And megan said right now. They're just settling in for another snowy winter in kebac. Oh, I'm so happy That was a great. I thought you're gonna bring me down on christmas Oh, no, never never, but I do want to brag on you a little bit and crime junkie You did something really cool without even telling me. I did. Yeah, you got hooked up with indy humane. Oh, I did Yeah, and we are going to talk a little they sent you a great

thank you email for those of you who don't know crime junkie is now sponsoring a kennel at indy humane and They sent us a thank you note and included some information about the prepped who is living in the crime junkie podcast kennel Oh, good. Good. Good guys. I hope we can get this puppy adopted me too. And honestly I didn't even really plan this when I picked kortana but We are going to talk about pop low who is adoptable at indy humane and he is also a boxer mix And he was also adopted twice before landing back at indy humane

Oh my gosh, just like kortana And he came to indy humane when he was a puppy and he had a completely mangled leg And he actually spent like weeks in medical care and recovery But he's doing amazingly now He's super silly and loves to just like explode with energy And that's one of the reasons that he got brought back one time the family had had another dog And they brought him back because they said that poplow and the other dog just played all the time

And it was too much for them to handle which like that's all I want in life is to play with puppets I was gonna say I think that's sweet And indy humane said that you know poplow's future family should know that like he is ready to live his fullest life And they're looking for an adopter with an active lifestyle filled with fun toys Positive training sessions and of course all of the cuddles. So guys, we're gonna put a picture of poplow up on our website He is the sweetest boy guys. It's christmas. How poplow find his forever home. Yeah Pablo give him a home like kortana. We love you and thank you for everything you guys are doing over at indy humane

We love you guys. Merry christmas