Who killed Jonelle Matthews? What her suspected killer said on the witness stand

It was December 1984 when 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews vanished from her family's Greeley, Colorado home. The only evidence left behind were shoeprints in the snow – shoeprints someone tried to erase with a garden rake. The case drew national attention.  JIM MATTHEWS | Jonelle's father [on the witness stand]: She could have been lured out of the house and gullible because she was 12 years old. LOCAL NEWS REPORT: 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews disappeared from her Greeley home. … It's believed she's the victim of a kidnapping. LOCAL NEWS REPORT: Jonelle Matthews will turn 13 in two weeks. No one knows where she'll spend her birthday. PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN [March 7, 1985]: I learned about Jonelle Matthews of Greeley, Colorado. … five days before Christmas, Jonelle disappeared from her home. LOCAL NEWS REPORT: A major development to tell you about in a mystery that is more than three decades old. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: I heard that a girl was missing from Greeley, Colorado. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: I lived in Greeley, Colorado, from 1973 … STEVE PANKEY [Idaho Statesman political ad]: I'm one of the people who wants to represent you. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: I contacted the FBI. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: I knew more than I wanted to know, OK. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: They've got full SWAT gear on. They've got rifles and they're pointing them at me. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: Don't spit in my face. Don't accuse me … STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: I've never met Jonelle Matthews … I've never met anybody in her family ... STEVE PANKEY [to Werthmann]: If I gave my DNA, that would be kinda like a knockout blow … KELLY WERTHMANN: Did you kill Jonelle Matthews? STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: At the time I was married. And … I had a 5-year-old son. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: We went to California to be with my parents for Christmas. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]:  I contacted the Fort Collins FBI office.  … I said … "I want to talk to you. It may or may not have something to do with the Jonelle Matthews case." STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]:  He told me that a cop had contacted him and said that he had a body he wanted to be buried. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]:  I want to at least be on record that I talked to you, so I don't get possibly an obstruction of justice charge. STEVE PANKEY ["Unfound" podcast]: In 1977, I was a youth pastor at the … church. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: It would be in the back of my mind about this case … so I called … the guy who lived next door … I just asked, "did they ever resolve that Jonelle Matthews thing?" And he said, no, not to his knowledge. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: They searched this place, they took my laptop … DA MICHAEL ROURKE [to reporters]: It is with great honor today that we announce that the grand jury indicted an individual named Steven Dana Pankey for the kidnapping and murder of Jonelle Matthews. CHIEF MARK JONES [to reporters]: To the Matthews family, I pray that this news brings you some closure and hope as we continue to pursue justice for Jonelle and your family. DA MICHAEL ROURKE: The search for justice for Jonelle begins today. MAYOR JOHN GATES: I was … sitting at my desk one day some time back. And had a call from a journalist in Idaho. … that told me that I'd been named as a person of interest in this case by Mr. Pankey. And I think my jaw probably hit my desk, and I said, "What?" DA ROBERT MILLER: Describe what happens on December 21 at your house. ANGELA HICKS: He said, "get us ready to go. We're leaving before daylight tomorrow morning to go to Big Bear for Christmas." ANGELA HICKS: "No more music, no TV, no radio, no newspapers. This is going to be a godly home." DA ROBERT MILLER: How long were you driving as you flipped stations looking for news stories about Jonelle Matthews? ANGELA HICKS: He wanted me to read each article out loud to him. ANGELA HICKS: And one of the things notated in his handwriting on this piece of legal paper was snow outside the Matthews house was raked. ANTHONY VIORST: Norris Drake, Ladies and gentlemen, knew that the footprints were raked.  ANTHONY VIORST: Norris Drake murdered Jonelle Matthews. ANTHONY VIORST: So that's why there was no struggle, all right? Because Norris Drake got her to leave the house.  ANTHONY VIORST: Norris Drake had an interest in young girls who had recently reached puberty, exactly what Jonelle was, exactly. DA MICHAEL ROURKE The truest thing you've ever said is you're a master manipulator, right? STEVEN PANKEY: In the little jail cubicle before coming up here, I was praying and I was thinking, God, maybe I shouldn't testify … Because I'd be just telling more lies.  STEVEN PANKEY: So, the truth is that I made a lot of stuff up out of bitterness. STEVEN PANKEY: He told me that a cop had contacted him and said that he had a body he wanted to be buried. STEVEN PANKEY: I had told so many lies. STEVEN PANKEY: It was a polite way of flipping them the bird. It was pure hatred on my part. STEVEN PANKEY: It was just me trying to be a big man, be in the case, OK? I had no knowledge.  STEVEN PANKEY: … one lie leads to another. STEVEN PANKEY: I had never imagined Angie would be as big a liar as I am.  STEVEN PANKEY A month, three weeks, two months, I don't know, before December. STEVEN PANKEY: That's the first time I heard that there was a missing child. STEVEN PANKEY: I wanna back up a little bit. ANTHONY VIORST: He lives in a world of conspiracy, paranoia and low self-esteem. ANTHONY VIORST: Mr. Pankey does have a mental illness.  DA ROBERT MILLER:  He's not someone that has a mental health disorder, he's a master manipulator.  JUDGE TIMOTHY KERNS: Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict on count number four? JUDGE TIMOTHY KERNS: We the jury find the defendant Steven Dana Pankey guilty. JUDGE TIMOTHY KERNS: I realize the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the other counts and that is a perfectly acceptable way for a trial to conclude.

More than three decades later, in 2019, Jonelle's body was found by a crew digging a pipeline. In 2020, Steven Pankey, who says he never met Jonelle, was charged with murder after repeatedly making public statements that inserted him into the case, including drawing up a list of persons of interest with his own name on it. Pankey went on trial in October 2021. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: I told the FBI I want to talk to you. It may or may not have something to do with the Jonelle Matthews case. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: Make sure the viewers hear that … I voluntarily gave my DNA. I offered to take a polygraph. STEVE PANKEY: [Laughs] Absolutely not. STEVE PANKEY [to KMVT]: On the 26th we were driving back. And I heard on the car radio that a girl was missing from Greeley, Colorado. … of course, you know, you think that's terrible, but lots of kids go missing, you know. STEVE PANKEY ["Unfound" podcast]: She was 23 years old. DA MICHAEL ROURKE: The evidence in this case will prove … that the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree and second-degree kidnapping. ANGELA HICKS: Um, I mean, several hours. STEVEN PANKEY: Maybe. ANTHONY VIORST: Mr. Pankey, I'm gonna ask you to answer my questions a little more directly if you don't mind.

Anthony Viorst, Pankey's former attorney, says Pankey craves attention but is not a murderer. STEVEN PANKEY: I spent a couple of hours in the basement jail area with my attorney… and he was talking to me about my testimony … Mr. Viorst was saying to me — 'cause I would give certain things and he'd say, "well, that's a good answer." … And then I'd say other things and he'd say, "well, that's bull—— nobody's going to buy that."