Ex Idaho gubernatorial candidate Steven Pankey hopeful guilty of killing child
A former Idaho gubernatorial candidate has been found guilty of killing a 12-year-old Colorado girl who vanished nearly four decades ago.
Steven Pankey, 71, will spend life behind bars after he was convicted of murder, second-degree kidnapping and false reporting Monday in the 1984 disappearance and death of his neighbor, Jonelle Matthews, the Weld County Prosecutor’s Office said.
It was the second trial for Pankey — who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2014 and 2018 — after a jury last year was unable to reach a verdict on the kidnapping and murder charges.
After Pankey’s sentence was read, Jonelle’s family spoke to reporters about the impact the loss had on their family for the past 38 years.
“I just want to cry,” Jonelle’s mother, Gloria Matthews, said.
“God is the only one who can forgive evil, and I feel this is evil.”
Her sister, Jennifer Mogensen, said she wished she’d gotten to grow up with her sister.
“My husband never met his sister-in-law, and my son never met his aunt,” Mogensen said, according to the Coloradoan.
In December of 1984, Jonelle was dropped off at her parent’s empty home in Greeley, a city about 50 miles north of Denver, following a performance at a Christmas choir concert.
The girl’s mother had been out of state and her father was attending her older sister’s basketball game. By the time her family came home that evening, Jonelle was nowhere to be found.
The case went cold for years, until 2019 when Jonelle’s body was found by workers digging a pipeline. Officials deemed her death a homicide by a single gunshot wound to the head.
Around that time, Pankey emerged as a person of interest after claiming to have information about what happened and asked for immunity from prosecution.
Pankey also “intentionally inserted himself” into the drawn-out search for the girl, court documents show.
Pankey moved his family Greeley and eventually settled down in Idaho. His second unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018 was the same year he was named a person of interest in Jonelle’s death.
He was tried for the case in October 2021, but the case ended in a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the murder and kidnapping charges. That jury found him guilty of false reporting.
With Post wires
