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Jonelle Matthews - The Girl on the Milk Carton · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Joanelle Matthews, a twelve year old girl from the United States,
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  vanished near Greeley, Colorado, on December twentieth, nineteen eighty four.
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  Her remains were located on July twenty fourth, twenty nineteen,
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  by construction workers who were installing a new pipeline approximately
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  fifteen miles from her residence. On October thirty first, twenty
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  twenty two, Stephen Pankey received a life sentence following his
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  arrest and trial for the murder of matthews disappearance. On
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  the night of December twentieth, nineteen eighty four, Matthews participated
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  in a Christmas concert at the Intra West Bank of
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  Denver as a member of the Franklin Middle School choir
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  from Greeley. At the time, her father was attending her
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  sister's basketball game while her mother was out of state
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  tending to a sick family member. After receiving a ride
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  home from her friend Diana Ross and Diana's father, Matthews
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  arrived at her Greeley home at eight fifteen pm. Shortly
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  after eight thirty pm, she answered a phone call and
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  took a message for her father, marking the last known
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  communication anyone had with her. At nine thirty pm, Matthew's
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  father returned home to find the garage door ajar, yet
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  the house was empty. He noticed Matthew's shoes and shawl
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  placed near a heater in the family room, a favored
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  spot of hers. When Matthew's older sister, Jennifer came home
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  at ten foot PM, she had not encountered her sister. Concerned,
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  their father contacted the police. The authorities arrived at ten
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  fifteen PM and discovered footprints in the snow, suggesting someone
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  had been peering through the windows. There were no indications
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  of a struggle or forced entry. Given the snowy conditions,
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  Jim Matthews believed it in probable that his daughter would
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  venture far without her shoes. In the weeks following the disappearance,
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  law enforcement monitored Matthews's birth mother, Terry Vieira Martinez, without
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  informing her of Matthews's absence. In nineteen ninety four, ten
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  years after she went missing, Joannelle Matthews was officially declared dead.
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  In nineteen ninety seven, Gloria Matthews received a letter from
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  Vieira seeking permission to visit. Vieira had engaged a search
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  consultant to assist in finding the child she had placed
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  for adoption. The Matthews family informed Vieira of the circumstances
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  surrounding the disappearance, and the two families eventually formed a friendship.
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  Years later. After Matthew's disappearance, her parents relocated to the
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  Philippines for missionary work and later moved to Costa Rica
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  upon retirement. Matthews's cister married and left Colorado. Public interest.
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  The case of the disappearance garnered significant public attention as
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  one of the initial milk carton Kids. Matthews's image and
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  the date of her disappearance were featured on milk cartons
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  as part of a nationwide initiative aimed at locating missing children.
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  On March seventh, nineteen eighty five, President Ronald Reagan referenced
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  Matthews during a speech delivered from Room four fifty of
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  the Old Executive Office Building. Additionally, her name was recorded
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  in the Congressional Record of the United States House of
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  Representatives on April set hunandeen eighty five, on page seventy
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  two twenty four. In twenty ten, the Greeley Tribune provided
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  another overview of the case. As recently as twenty eighteen,
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  the Greeley Police Department revisited the case by contacting witnesses
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  and utilizing the latest advancement in forensic science. Matthews is
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  also listed in the database of the International Center for
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  Unidentified and Missing Persons. In her memory, a choke cherry
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  tree was planted in front of Franklin Middle School. Unfortunately,
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  the tree succumbed after a few years, and the plaque
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  bearing Matthews's name subsequently went missing. Investigation. On September thirteen,
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  twenty nineteen, the Greeley Police Department revealed that Stephen Dana Pankey,
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  a former resident of Greeley who had previously campaigned for
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  the governorship in Idaho in two thousand, fourteen and twenty eighteen,
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  as well as for the position of Lieutenant governor in
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  two thousand ten, was identified as a person of interest
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  in the abduction and subsequent death of Matthews. On September fourth,
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  twenty nineteen, law enforcement officials in Twin Falls, Idaho, executed
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  a search warrant at Pankey's condominium, which indicated that investigators
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  had sufficient grounds to suspect his involvement in Matthew's abduction
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  and murder. Pankey and his ex wife resided approximately three
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  miles from the Matthew's household, and he had served as
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  a youth pastor at the church attended by the Matthews family.
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  Greeley Police Commander Roy Smith noted that Pankey had made
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  numerous attempts to communicate with detectives regarding the Matthew's case. However,
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  he declined to respond to inquiries when detectives visited Twin
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  Falls on August fifteenth, two thy nineteen. On October thirteen,
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  twenty twenty, Pankey was formally charged with first degree murder
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  and kidnapping in connection with Matthews's death. He was detained
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  without bail at the Ada County Jail in Boise until
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  his extradition to Colorado. At the time of his indictment,
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  Stephen Pankey was sixty nine years old. Pankey became aware
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  of his status as a person of interest in September
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  two thousand nineteen. During an interview with The Idaho Statesman.
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  He informed the newspaper that he was unfamiliar with Matthews
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  or her family and had only learned of them