Dateline: 5 harrowing details about Jonelle Matthews’ disappearance and muder, explored

Dateline returned to some of the most terrifying recent cold cases, and one of the most frightening is the case of Jonelle Matthews, who was 12 years old. She had been missing since December of 1984. Her case remained unsolved for over three decades—until a break in the case led to the arrest and conviction of a suspect whose suspicious behavior had raised many eyebrows throughout the years. Her own case, captured on camera by Dateline, is a testament to the length of time it can take before justice is served and how perseverance will eventually bear fruit.

Jonelle's name became well-known nationwide when the "milk carton campaign," an awareness campaign to educate people about missing children, was just starting. Although the public was made aware of her case, the investigation came to a standstill for years with no one being arrested, minimal evidence, and no body—until 2019.

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Dateline sheds light on new information; the next five facts share the most terrifying and intriguing information about Jonelle Matthews' vanishing and death.

1. She disappeared following the holiday concert with no further indications

According to Dateline, on December 20, 1984, Jonelle Matthews returned home from the Franklin Middle School Christmas choir concert held in Greeley, Colorado. Her friend's dad dropped her off at 8:30 p.m. Her father arrived home about an hour later to find Jonelle was no longer there. There was no indication of a struggle or forced entry, but her shoes and shawl remained in the house. In the early stages of the investigation, the only possible evidence—a footprint in the snow outside—was cavalierly obliterated.

Despite close monitoring by local authorities and national media, they had no leads. The case was on the news but was never solved, with little physical evidence and few leads to follow. Jonelle's disappearance turned into a cold case within days, a case that would keep plaguing the town of Greeley for decades to come.

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2. Thirty-five years later, her remains were found.

As per Dateline, the biggest break in the case came most unexpectedly in July 2019. Workers constructing buildings in rural Weld County, about 15 miles from where Jonelle was last seen, discovered human remains near an oil well. The remains were confirmed to be Jonelle through dental records and DNA.

Evidently, the discovery validated that Jonelle had been killed soon after she disappeared. Though they did not reveal the cause of death, having been buried in a shallow grave suggested something was not right. This led to the reopening of the case, similar to a reinvestigation of former individuals of interest.

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3. Steve Pankey was charged after decades of suspicion

Dateline showed that Steve Pankey was another familiar face to the police due to his strange conduct in relation to the case. Pankey never stopped volunteering unsolicited statements to authorities over the years, claiming he had information regarding the case. His son and ex-wife then finally informed the authorities that Pankey was obsessed with the disappearance and constantly spoke about it, even when it bore no relevance at all to what they were discussing.

Pankey was indicted in 2020 on several charges, including first-degree murder and kidnapping. Detectives recounted that although there was no physical evidence directly implicating him in the crime, his own words from year to year were not only suspicious and inconsistent but even contradictory to each other. Dateline's investigation looked into how Pankey pulled himself into the case, which prompted closer scrutiny and, eventually, charges.

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4. The trial was characterized by testimonies of his obsessive focus on the case

Pankey's trial, which started in 2021 and concluded with a 2022 conviction, included testimony from his family members and his one-time friends, who testified about his peculiar obsession with Jonelle's case. He was reportedly reading newspaper articles, recording news broadcasts, and venting day and night about the theories regarding the crime weeks, sometimes months, before the discovery of her body.

Prosecutors described Pankey's behavior as characteristic of one trying to command the spin. While on trial, they presented evidence of his efforts to mislead detectives, like when he uttered a line suggesting that he had information unseen in the public debate. He was volatile and attention-seeking, his defense argued, but the jury found him guilty of kidnapping and felony murder.

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5. A conviction, but no obvious motive

Despite the conviction, the most disturbing aspect of the case is that there was no apparent motive. Jonelle and her family were unknown to Pankey. The prosecution suggested there might have been an element of control or insanity. But there has not yet been an apparent motive for abduction and murder established.

Jonelle's loved ones, while grateful for the outcome, knew the continued pain of open-ended questions. According to Dateline, the trial provided closure in the courtroom but emotionally left gaping wounds simmering for decades. The case remembers that justice, as belated as it may be, is still in store, although often with imperfect closure.

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The country's return to covering Jonelle Matthews' story on Dateline is a grim reminder of the sad absence of closure in long-pending cases. The turns of events, spanning from a missing child to an arrest and trial decades later, reflect the complexity of criminal investigations and the determination required to find the truth.

Also read: Dateline: Who was Jonelle Matthews and what happened to her? Details of the 1984 incident, explored