He does. Jim Matthews : We had never heard the name Steve Pankey. But as it turns out, when Jonelle vanished in , Pankey lived in Greeley — about two miles from the Matthew home. Mayor John Gates : I do. Yeah, he worked for my father. Greeley Mayor and former police officer John Gates knew Steven Pankey , and says he was not considered a person of interest in the early days when Jonelle first disappeared.
Richard Schlesinger : Was Pankey questioned at all in the early days of this investigation? And I heard on the car radio that a girl was missing from Greeley, Colorado.
That's what he says he thought at first, but a month after Jonelle's disappearance, Pankey suddenly inserted himself directly into the middle of this case and volunteered some information about Jonelle's disappearance.
Steve Pankey claims that seven days after Jonelle disappeared, his father-in-law — a groundskeeper at a Greeley cemetery — shared some disturbing information. Pankey told KMVT that he shared the information with the FBI, because he feared that somehow someone might be trying to implicate him in Jonelle's murder. It's a wild sounding story and "48 Hours" can't confirm it or even that he went to the FBI. Law enforcement records show that Pankey had other unrelated run-ins with Greeley police.
They describe mostly minor and non-violent allegations, like creating a nuisance and harassment. In fact, the day before Jonelle disappeared, Pankey was arrested at a bank for harassment and criminal trespass. Anthony Viorst : That's the kind of thing that's happened to Mr. Pankey over the years. He's had periodic sort of spats with people because he is an irascible, prickly guy.
But police clearly think it's more than that and seem to be looking closely at Pankey's past — possibly including a case from , when a year-old Pankey was charged with sexually assaulting a woman he met in church. In a four-hour episode of the "Unfound" podcast recorded in November , Pankey claims he was dating his accuser. Anthony Viorst : There was a sexual encounter. And she later said it was nonconsensual.
Anthony Viorst : It has nothing to do with this case. But Jim Matthews, who joined that same church not long after Pankey left, says there's another commandment Pankey seems to be having trouble with: thou shalt not bear false witness.
Richard Schlesinger : Do you believe that he was a threat to children in that church? Anthony Viorst : There's no physical evidence whatsoever to connect Mr. Pankey to this crime. Zero physical evidence, OK? John Gates knows the evidence is circumstantial, but he believes it is as strong as it is strange. Mayor John Gates : This is … some of the most bizarre stuff I've ever heard, and I've been around the block.
About two years after year-old Jonelle Matthews vanished from her home in Greeley, Colorado, her family made the painful decision to pack up and leave town. Around that same time, Steven Pankey, his young son and his wife, who was pregnant with their second son, also left Greeley.
The Pankey family bounced around from state to state for a while. In , they settled in Idaho, but Pankey admits he could not stop thinking about Jonelle. But Pankey might have been more than just curious. In he told the Idaho Supreme Court, after a conviction for once again causing a scene in a bank, that the conviction — which was dismissed years later — was in part an "attempt to force" him "to become an informant" in Jonelle's disappearance. He also wrote that he feared he might "get the death penalty for revealing the location of" her body.
Richard Schlesinger : See, that's weird. I mean, why would he say that if he didn't know where Jonelle Matthews was buried? Anthony Viorst : Well, here's what I'll say, Richard. I agree with you that it's weird … It just makes zero sense. It's just — he is a strange guy. But over the years there was even more strange behavior, moments that, authorities believe add up to circumstantial evidence. Kevin Schneider says he met the Pankey family when they first moved to Idaho. His son was friends with Pankey's son, Mark.
Richard Schlesinger : Did your son ever see any unusual things at the Pankey house when he was over there? Kevin Schneider : Yes, he did. One time, I guess their family dog was doing a lot of barking, and it was irritating Steven.
And he took duct tape and wrapped it around the dog's muzzle. Pankey denies he ever did that, but Kevin says Pankey's son Mark was so unhappy living at home that the Schneiders took him in for about six years. In , Pankey's wife filed for divorce, and he moved to Shoshone, Idaho, where in without any experience with law enforcement, other than being arrested, he ran for sheriff. He lost, but Pankey still wanted to be sheriff somewhere. In , he thought about running in Twin Falls, where he went to church with Ryan Horsley, a political consultant.
Ryan Horsley : I was kind of confused because our local sheriff actually went to our church. Ryan Horsley : Yeah. Pankey might have thought better about running in Twin Falls. In , he ran for sheriff in Shoshone once again. And, once again, he didn't come close to winning.
But his political ambitions grew, and he became a serial candidate. Ryan Horsley : He's ran for lieutenant governor once. Ryan Horsley : He ran under the Constitutional Party. Richard Schlesinger : I know that you're a politician and not a priest, but did he seem in need of an exorcism? Ryan Horsley: It just seemed strange. I was just kind of glued to the headlines this whole time on just his stories — that they just didn't make sense.
For the record, the Constitution Party denies Pankey or anyone else was exorcised — at least by them. In , Pankey made a second attempt at becoming governor and to no one's surprise, he lost. Ryan Horsley says that's when Pankey started collecting guns. Ryan Horsley : Out of the blue he began, um, purchasing firearms … and later found out that Greeley Police Department had been contacting him regarding this murder investigation. And six weeks after Jonelle's remains were discovered, authorities were at Pankey's front door with a search warrant.
Defense attorney Anthony Viorst says the case against his client is just a weak and circumstantial collection of strange behaviors. Anthony Viorst : I don't like to divulge my defense, you know, on national television … but I don't think it's going to be any surprise when I tell you that they've got no motive whatsoever for this crime … there's absolutely no indication Mr.
Pankey knew this girl … knew where she lived … had any desire to kill her. But the District Attorney's Office felt they had enough evidence to go to trial. And on October 13, , a jury was seated and ready to hear the case. In August , nearly 35 years after Jonelle vanished, Gloria and Jim Matthews were finally able to lay her to rest.
Jim Matthews : We knew that we wanted to give her a dignified burial and … I'm not a real emotional person. But boy, just the floodgates opened up for both of us.
But there was no rest for the Matthews. They had to wait a little more than two years —until October , for this moment: opening statements in the trial of Steven Pankey.
Mayor John Gates : Well, I think from a law enforcement perspective, the fact that … the case was 37 years old. That, of course, doesn't exist. Richard Schlesinger : So, you've really gotta believe these prosecution witnesses to convict this guy.
Of course, the prosecution also has Pankey's own words. He spent years insisting he had vital information about what happened to Jonelle Matthews. DA Michael Rourke : He wasn't a person of interest. He bought too-large tennis shoes at a thrift store so no bloody footprints would point police toward him. On the night of the murders, Duncan crept across a field to the home, using a low-visibility red-bulb flashlight to guide his way. He peered into the children's window, and saw them sleeping.
But one of the family dogs saw him and growled - frightening him enough that he retreated to the fence, Moss said. Duncan bound the family, took the youngest children outside and systematically beat the others to death. Then he drove away with Dylan and Shasta, making sure they knew he had killed their relatives as he headed deep into the Montana wilderness.
The trio camped for several weeks at the end of a remote forest road near St. Regis, Mont. When Duncan left the camp, he tied the children to a tree with a dog chain. Prosecutors know what happened during 30 of those minutes because Duncan videotaped his sexual abuse and torture of Dylan. The video is graphic, Moss warned jurors, but they'll have to watch it as they make their decision.
After they returned to the campsite, the first thing Duncan did was show Shasta the video, Moss said. Then - at some point over the next four days - Shasta heard a gunshot and turned to see Dylan clutching his stomach where he'd been hit. Then she watched as Duncan walked over to Dylan, held the gun next to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire, Moss said, so Duncan reloaded and fired again.
Duncan wrapped the body in a tarp, threw it on the campfire and let it burn for several days, until it was reduced to ashes. A waitress recognized Shasta and called police.
The report details findings of dramatically insufficient staffing — in one case an employee said she thought a patient's death could have been prevented if not for being short-staffed. The governor argued in a brief filed with the U. In return, the author and filmmaker has dedicated his life to advocating for the bears. Thursday marked one year since pro-Trump rioters breached the U.
Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the election results that favored now-President Joe Biden. A ranching family dealing with grizzly depredations offers an account of incidents which left one grizzly and several steers dead. Bear managers are now working with landowners as more bears arrive.
So far six Montanans have been identified as participants in the deadly attack, and over the last year the legal proceedings against them have played out.
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