Jury To Reconvene Thursday After Failing To Reach Verdict For Steve Pankey In Jonelle Matthews Murder Trial
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4)- The jury will reconvene on Thursday after failing to reach a verdict for the second day of deliberations in the Jonelle Matthews murder trial. Steve Pankey is accused of murdering Jonelle Matthews in December 1984.
The jury began deliberations at noon on Tuesday.
Last week Pankey took the stand in his own defense. Pankey has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and murder.
It was Dec. 20, 1984 when 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews sang in a concert and was dropped at home by a friend and the friend's father. She was last seen at 8 p.m., entering the ranch-style home where she lived with her father, Jim; mother, Gloria; and sister. But when her father returned from her sister's basketball game an hour later, Jonelle was gone.
Jonelle was considered missing until workers digging a pipeline in July 2019 discovered human remains matching her dental records in a rural area southeast of Greeley, a city about 50 miles north of Denver. Police then labeled her death a homicide. An autopsy report suggests she died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Pankey was not a family friend of the Matthews family. However, he did attend the same church and was part of the same social circles as the family.