48 Hours - The Kidnapping of Jonelle Matthews

Episode Date: March 28, 2021

A 12-year-old is kidnapped from her home 36 years ago. An unusual suspect is charged. "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca Where's Janelle? Do you know where Janelle is? I wonder what happened to that 12-year-old little girl. Everybody was looking for Janelle. What happened and why? 35 years after her disappearance, police in Greeley take a big step in solving the case of Janelle Matthews. Let's talk about December 20th, 1984. My mom was going to California to visit her family for Christmas, and I had a basketball game that night.

My dad dropped my sister off at the choir concert and he came and watched my game. Janelle needed a ride home so she hopped in our truck and we took her home. My dad waited until he saw her flick on the light. That was our sign that she made it inside and everything's fine. I came home and you could tell Janelle had been there. I yelled out, hi, Janelle. Janelle, are you there? No answer. I got home probably between 9.30 and 10. Jennifer, do you know where Janelle is? And I said, no, she should be here.

Was there anything out of place in the house? Not to me. I'm starting to feel real uneasy. I called the police and told them that my daughter was missing, and they did uncover some footprints. I called home, and he said, I just have to tell you something. We can't find Janelle.

I just had a sick feeling to my stomach. Tell me a little bit about Janelle. Just sweet, bubbly, fun. So kind, so nice. Always seemed to kind of be the life of the party. And you always knew Janelle was around. Years go by. Five years. Ten years. Twenty years. Thirty years. The police were working like hell to get this case cleared. We just had to wait 35 years. Janelle was finally found. A bulldozer operator

uncovered the bones. More than 20 miles from her old home. I didn't want that to be Janelle. I really wanted to not know. The discovery of her body

was not the end of the story. This is Steve Pankey. Pankey is a person of interest in a homicide out of Colorado. I've never met Janelle Matthews. He's run for governor. Never met her, never talked to her. He ran for sheriff. Never heard of Janelle Matthews.

He likes to talk. He's a talkative guy. I voluntarily gave my DNA. But he's not a murderer. I want to hear what he has to say about that night. A.I. We all lived with our front doors open. We rode our bikes a lot around town. Janelle Matthews' friends, Darla Gench and Deanna Ross, remember growing up with Janelle in the small Colorado city of Greeley.

We had sleepovers, birthday parties. We just had a big group of friends. The kind of town realtors like to call a great place to raise kids. I'm so fortunate that we were neighbors. But in December of 1984, just five days before Christmas, Greeley learned it could not hide from evil. Twelve-year-old Janelle Matthews disappeared from her Greeley home. It's believed she's the victim of a kidnapping. It was such a mystery this whole thing happened. Just like that, Darla lost her childhood friend.

Do you remember being afraid? Oh, yeah, I remember being afraid. As a community, it rocked Greeley. Janelle Matthews will turn 13 in two weeks. No one knows where she'll spend her birthday. You'd be the last people to whom something like this would happen, I would think. Yeah. Jim and Gloria Matthews had moved to Greeley just six years earlier

to raise their young daughters, Jennifer We were happy. and Janelle. Were you a close family? Definitely. Gloria was working at a restaurant and I was an elementary principal. We were very involved in our church and we just had a very full life. At least they did until that night, December 20th. That's when Janelle went to sing in a school choir concert. She was interested in any kind of performing thing. Afterwards, she got a ride home with Deanna Ross and Deanna's father. That was about 8 p.m.

And you drove off thinking what? That I'd see her the next day at school. I came home by myself. Jim Matthews recalls arriving home at about 9 30 p.m. and found that his daughter wasn't there. Did it occur to you that maybe she had run away? Did it occur to you that maybe she had run away? No, because I know my daughter well enough that, number one, it's Christmas time. She loves presents. She just loves the whole festivities of Christmas. At first, he thought Janelle was at a friend's house. But after calling around and waiting about a half hour to an hour, Jim says he called police. They sent two or three detectives out and started

searching the house for clues. I remember that night like it was yesterday. Greeley's mayor, John Gates, was 27 years old at the time and a police officer. He was called to the scene. My assignment that night was going around the neighborhood, knocking on doors, asking them if they had seen or heard anything suspicious that evening. No one had seen or heard anything, and the Matthews' home, which was now a crime scene, offered few clues. There was a note from Janelle, but it was just a phone message she had taken for her father shortly before she vanished. The only physical evidence were those footprints in the fresh snow. They were found

just outside the house, and there was something odd about them. Whoever did it tried to rake their footprints. And he was using, what, a garden rake? Yeah, right out of my garage. Oh, to cover them up? Yeah, yeah. Peculiar, huh? Yes. There were no fingerprints, and if there was DNA, law enforcement was still several years from being able to analyze it. With nothing else to go on, investigators focused on Jim Matthews himself. What was it like for you to be considered a suspect in your daughter's disappearance? For the longest time, I knew exactly what they were doing and I respected it. He even agreed to a lie detector test with an FBI agent. The number one interrogator west of the Mississippi. Jim says the agent told

him he failed. I just kept telling him, I said, listen, I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you everything I know. Then I had another one with the local police. That's when I started losing it. I said, listen, I have been very honest. I've been accessible to you anytime you want it. But I'm getting sick of this because I am innocent. Matthews was eventually cleared, leaving no suspects or leads. A group of Greeley residents worked hard to keep Janelle's story alive. The Rescue Janelle committee made all kinds of things happen. They made headlines. Janelle became one of the first missing children whose photo appeared on milk cartons across America.

I learned about Janelle Matthews of Greeley, Colorado. And even President Ronald Reagan got involved. He mentioned Janelle in a speech about missing children. Five days before Christmas, Janelle disappeared from her home. But Janelle's family and friends could only attract that kind of attention for so long. With no real evidence of what happened to the 12-year-old, the case went cold.

But Janelle was far from forgotten. Everywhere we went, I was always looking for her. I always had hope that I would find her. In my dreams, she always came home. You know, she always came home. I love this picture. But in reality reality there was no sign of Janelle. I like that picture too. A major development to tell you about in a mystery that is more than three decades old. And then on the 23rd of July 2019,

nearly 35 years after Janelle's disappearance, police finally had that breaking news to share. Wow. It was a complete shock. A crew digging a pipeline in a remote stretch of land just southeast of Greeley had discovered human remains with a gunshot wound to the head. They were confirmed by the coroner to be those of Jonal Matthews. It was agony for Janelle's mother, Gloria, who could no longer hope her daughter would come home. We are going to know that she was murdered. was smart. The question was, who killed Janelle? I heard that a girl was missing from Greeley, Colorado. Police might have been closer to an answer than they knew. I lived in Greeley, Colorado. This man, Steve Pankey, was once a candidate for governor of Idaho. I am one of the people who wants to represent you.

He was a person who sure was interested in the case. I contacted the FBI. And made himself... I knew more than I wanted to know, okay? A person of interest. I told the FBI, I want to talk to you. It may or may not have something to do with the Janelle Matthews case. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California.

Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. In September 2019, just weeks after discovering the remains of 12-year-old Janelle Matthews, the case that had been so cold for so long quickly heated up.

Authorities searched a home in Twin Falls, Idaho. They've got full SWAT gear on. They've got rifles and they're pointing them at me. It belonged to Stephen Pankey. Tonight's top story. His house was searched by the Twin Falls Police Department. In a matter of days, the search was all over the news, but not because police were talking. Don't spit in my face. Don't accuse me. It was Steven Pankey who started talking. I've never met Janelle Matthews. To just about anyone who would listen.

I've never met anybody in her family. Including CBS affiliate KMVT. Make sure the viewers hear that I voluntarily gave my DNA. I offered to take a polygraph. Police won't directly confirm any of that. I'm Kelly Werthmann. Here's a look at today's top stories. Kelly Werthmann is a reporter and anchor for Denver's CBS station KCNC. She also interviewed Pankey over FaceTime. If I gave my DNA, that would be kind of like a knockout blow. He really wanted to make himself clear that he was framed.

Did you kill Janelle Matthews? Absolutely not. We tried to get our own interview with Pankey. Would you let us talk to your client? No, I will not. But by then, defense attorney Anthony Viorst had silenced his chatty new client. Mr. Pankey likes to talk. He does. To some extent, we're going to just have to face that. Janelle's father, Jim, says the fast-breaking news about Pankey surprised him. We had never heard the name Steve Pankey. We were totally clueless about this guy. But as it turns out, when Janelle vanished in 1984,

Pankey lived in Greeley, about two miles from the Matthews' home. At the time, I was married, and I had a five-year-old son. Greeley was much smaller then, and Panky was known around town. I had met him in about the mid-1970s. You remember that? I do. Yeah, he worked for my father, so I remember meeting him. Greeley Mayor and former police officer John Gates knew Stephen Pankey and says he was not considered a person of interest

in the early days when Janelle first disappeared. Was Pankey questioned at all in the early days of this investigation? Not to my knowledge. Where was he the night Janelle Matthews disappeared? Anthony Viorst says his client has an alibi. He was at home that night with his wife and child. Pankey says the morning after Janelle disappeared, he and his family left Greeley for five days. We went to California to be with my parents for Christmas. 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. that lots of kids go missing, you know. That's what he says he thought at first, but a month after Janelle's disappearance, Pankey suddenly inserted himself directly into the middle of this case. I contacted the Fort Collins FBI office. And volunteered some information about Janelle's disappearance. I said, I want to talk to you it may or may not have something to do with the Janelle Matthews case Steve Pankey claims that seven days after Janelle disappeared his

father-in-law a groundskeeper at a Greeley cemetery shared some disturbing information. He told me that a cop had contacted him and said that he had a body he wanted to be buried. Panky told KMVT that he shared the information with the FBI because he feared that somehow someone might be trying to implicate him in Janelle's murder. I want to at least be on record that I talked to you so I don't get possibly an obstruction of justice charge. It's a wild-sounding story, and 48 Hours can't confirm it or even that he went to the FBI. But 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 Janelle disappeared, Pankey was arrested at a bank for harassment and criminal trespass. He argued with a bank teller and the police were called.

The police and court records of what happened with the charges are no longer public. That's the kind of thing that's happened to Mr. Pankey over the years. He's had periodic, you know, sort of spats with people because he isn't a rascable, 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 1977 when a 26-year-old Panky was charged with sexually assaulting a woman he met in church. Steve, welcome to Unfound. In this four-hour-long podcast, recorded in November 2019,

In 1977, I was a youth pastor at the church. Pankey claims he was dating his accuser. She was 23 years old. There was a sexual encounter and she later said it was non-consensual. The woman eventually asked that the case be dismissed, But Pankey's lawyer says prosecutors will try to use it to make his client look like a person who's capable of murder. It has nothing to do with this case, nothing. He's a firm adherent to the Ten Commandments, which include thou shalt not kill. 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. He was not a youth worker at our church. He was the janitor.

Does it have a bearing on this case? I think it does. Yeah? Yes. Do you believe that he was a threat to children in that church? We don't know. But Anthony Viorst says he isn't worried. There's no physical evidence whatsoever to connect Mr. Pecky to this crime.

Zero physical evidence, okay? John Gates knows the evidence is circumstantial, but he believes it is as strong as it is strange. This is some of the most bizarre stuff I've ever heard, and I've been around the block. What do you make of Peggy's decision to draw attention to-old Janelle Matthews vanished from her home in Greeley, Colorado, her family made the painful decision to pack up and leave town. You have to go on with life. You can't let this consume you.

Around that same time, Stephen Pankey, his young son, and his wife, who was pregnant with their second son, also left Greeley. I wanted to move away. In that podcast interview from November 2019, In that podcast interview from November 2019, Panky said they moved primarily because of Janelle's disappearance. The Panky family bounced around from state to state for a while. 1989, they settled in Idaho. But Pankey admits he could not stop thinking about Janelle. 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 Janelle Matthews thing?

And he said, no, not to his knowledge. But Pankey might have been more than just curious. In 1999, 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 Janelle's disappearance. He also wrote that he feared he might get the death penalty for revealing the location of her body. See, that's weird. I mean, why would he say that if he didn't know where Janelle Matthews was buried?

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. And we submit that he never knew where the body was because he didn't do this. But over the years, there was even more strange behavior, moments that authorities believe add up to circumstantial evidence. What did you think of him? How did he seem to you? Very odd. Kevin Schneider says he met the Panky family when they first moved to Idaho. His son was friends with Panky's son, Mark. Did your son ever see any unusual things at the Panky house when he was over there? Yes, he did. One time, I guess, their family dog was doing a lot of barking and it was irritating Stephen and he took duct tape and wrapped it around the dog's muzzle.

and Steven and he took duct tape and wrapped it around the dog's muzzle. Oh. Panky denies he ever did that, but Kevin says Panky's son Mark was so unhappy living at home that the Schneiders took him in for about six years. Why was he living with you? He couldn't take his dad. In 2001, Panky's wife filed for divorce and he moved to Shoshone, Idaho, where in 2004, 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 2008, he thought about running in Twin Falls, where he went to church with Ryan Horsley, a political consultant. I was kind of confused because our local sheriff actually went to our church. He wanted to run against a fellow church member? Yeah, it just seemed really weird that he didn't have a grievance against our local sheriff.

It just seemed like he was just running just to run. Pankey might have thought better about running in Twin Falls. In 2008, he ran for sheriff in Shoshone once again. And once again, he didn't come close to winning. My name is Steve Pankey. But his political ambitions grew. I humbly ask for your vote on May 15th. And he became a serial candidate.

He's ran for lieutenant governor once. He's ran for governor two times. I humbly ask for your vote on May 15th. One of the times he ran for governor was a real dumpster fire. What made that campaign a dumpster fire? He ran under the constitutional party. I know you don't like me. At their state convention, he claimed that they tried to do an exorcism on him. I'm sorry, did you say an exorcism? Yes. I know that you're a politician and not a priest, but did he seem in need of an exorcism? It just seems 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 exercised, at least by them. I humbly ask for your vote on May 15th. In 2018, 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. Out of the blue, he began purchasing firearms and later found out that Greeley Police Department had been contacting him regarding this murder investigation. And six weeks after Janelle's remains were discovered, authorities were at Pankey's front door with a search warrant. They searched this place. They took my laptop. Pankey had an interesting next move. He ran for sheriff again. Vote Steve Pankey for sheriff. I think that was his last ditch effort, honestly. To do what? To halt any investigation, to halt him getting arrested.

It didn't work. It is with great honor today that we announce that the grand jury indicted an individual named Stephen Dana Pankey for the kidnapping and murder of Janelle Matthews. On October 12, 2020, police arrested Stephen Pankey for kidnapping and first-degree murder. To the Matthews family, I pray that this news brings you some closure and hope as we continue to pursue justice for Janelle and your family. But defense attorney Anthony Viorst says he's not worried because he says the case against his client is just a weak and circumstantial collection of strange behaviors. 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 is ready for trial. The indictment that I have referred to was unsealed just a little while ago. It's an eight-page document that lays out what the prosecutors believe is their best case against Stephen Pankey. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island.

It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.

When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. In August 2019, after nearly 35 years of agonizing over the mysterious disappearance of their daughter Janelle, Gloria and Jim Matthews were finally able to lay her to rest. We knew that we wanted to give her a dignified burial and what she so richly deserved.

When you start pouring dirt into the grave and then watch the casket go down. I'm not a real emotional person, but, boy, just the floodgates opened up for both of us. A little more than a year later, a grand jury handed down the indictment against Stephen Dana Pankey, charging that he took Janelle Matthews from her family home without her consent and against her will. And shot Janelle Matthews during the course of the kidnapping. Nobody ever reported a shot fired in the neighborhood.

Defense attorney Anthony Viorst. They say that he owned a gun in 1984 and that he lived within a few miles of Janelle Matthews. And that he lived within 10 miles of where her body was found. What do you make of those things? Well, you probably just described 20 or 30,000 men in the Greeley metropolitan area. And the place where the body was found was in a very remote location that he had no connection to. in a very remote location that he had no connection to. The indictment cites several examples where Pankey intentionally inserted himself in the investigation,

including this document, filed as part of his own divorce in 2003, where, for reasons that are clear only to Pankey, he wrote that Janelle's family should be told she died before crossing 10th Street. That's close to where her choir concert was held the night she vanished. That's just, you know, pulled out of thin air. I mean, it's not true. It's not based on anything. He's just making this stuff up to be involved in the case. Yeah. He also advised not to give the family hope.

Why would he interject himself into the case? I can't answer that because I can't get into his head, but I do think, again, it's a combination of sort of obsessive-compulsive behavior and, you know, perhaps even mental illness. If you're right, they've fallen for the claims of a mentally ill person. These are trained police officers. I mean, why would they do that? I'm not sure that they know or believe that he's mentally ill.

I don't think they have a lot of training on mental illness. Isn't the simpler explanation possibly that he is explaining what he did and why he did it? I suppose that would be the prosecution's position, but nothing he's ever said actually implicates him in the murder. Greeley's mayor, John Gates, strongly disagrees. The most strong evidence to me

is the way Mr. Pankey conducted himself from the time this happened up till his indictment. I've never said I did it. The bucket of bazaar means a lot to me. I knew more than I wanted to know, okay. It builds a really, really strong circumstantial case in my mind. Reach into that bucket of bizarre, would you, Mr. Mayor, and pull out for me the most bizarre thing? Well, he knew her. Pankey has always insisted that he didn't know Janelle. I've never met Janelle Matthews, never met her, never talked to her. PAUL SOLMAN, But the indictment suggests that he might have, because he demonstrated

intimate familiarity with the neighborhood where Janelle Matthews lived. And it says he watched schoolchildren walk home from Janelle's middle school. Then there's that panky family trip to California right after Janelle disappeared. I read that his wife found that to be bizarre. According to the indictment, his ex-wife had a lot to say about that. She said that it was sudden, very sudden and unplanned. Was that trip planned? Yes. His ex-wife says it was unplanned.

It came up out of nowhere and they just went. I'm aware of that. How do you decide who to believe there? Well, I believe my client. According to the indictment, Panky's ex-wife also told authorities that on the way back to Greeley, he uncharacteristically listened to the radio, searching for news accounts of Janelle's disappearance. And the indictment, while stingy on details, says she described Panky digging in their yard when they got back home.

What's that all about, do you think? I don't know. Here's what I'll say about that, all right? And again, I'm giving you way too much information because the prosecution's going to know my every move when this case goes to trial. But I'm fairly certain that the Greeley Police Department went back to that yard and looked in it and didn't find anything. Police aren't talking about the case, but Kevin Schneider, who knew Panky in Idaho, says he also knew Panky's ex-wife pretty well and believes her account of what happened.

I do. I do believe it 100%, and she would be the star witness for the prosecution, I would think. And why is that? Because she lived with him forever. I can't tell you whether she's being untruthful or just wrong. I don't want to impugn her character at this point in time, but we certainly think she's at the very least wrong. The prosecution could argue that he was getting out of town to avoid being questioned.

Sudden trip to California. Getting out of Dodge. The prosecution could argue that, Richard, I agree. He was never a suspect until he sort of interjected himself into this case. And for whatever reason, the perhaps overly verbose Pankey kept drawing attention to himself even as the police were closing in. Pankey says he went to reporters in Idaho because he wanted to be transparent. At one point in 2019, about a month after police searched his home,

he sent local media outlets a statement that included a list of people police might consider persons of interest. And he put his own name on it, while still insisting he's innocent. Mr. Pankey wanted to be a person of interest. I mean, Mr. Pankey could have laid low. Nobody would have ever talked to him. Nobody would have ever charged him. Pankey's list of persons of interest had another interesting name on it. He was a bit fixated on implicating me as well.

Greeley's mayor, John Gates, who says Pankey accused him of trying to set him up, and not just for Janelle Matthews' murder. There was a further mention that in 1993, I had convinced the Sun Valley, Idaho Police Department that Pankey was the Golden State killer. In California? Yes. And had California? Yes. And had you? No.

Anthony Viorce says that's just more proof that his client is merely obsessed with true crime, although not in a healthy way. Mr. Pankey loves the limelight. He just does, for whatever reason. It's a hell of a way to get the limelight, isn't it? It's not a good way. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It was all well and good, I suppose, until he actually got charged. But there is one piece of evidence mentioned in the indictment

that could prove especially challenging for Viorst and his loquacious client. It's those footprints in the snow found outside Janelle's house the night she vanished. Why is it so suspicious that he knew about a rape? What do you think of Pankey's defense? Take an in-depth look at the timeline of Janelle Matthews' disappearance and discovery at 48hours.com. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into

a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story.

My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. When Janelle Matthews first disappeared, investigators had only one piece of physical evidence, those footprints in the snow outside the Matthews' home that somebody, possibly her abductor,

had tried to conceal by using a garden rake. He would rake where he had been, and then he could get to the landing where he could walk up to the steps to the kitchen. Only the Matthews family, investigators, and presumably the killer knew about those raked-over footprints. And that is what made a 2019 conversation investigators had with Stephen Pankey so interesting. He mentioned rape? He did. Is there any way he would have known about that?

To my knowledge, no. But the indictment says Pankey knew of and discussed a crucial piece of evidence from the Matthews house, withheld from the public by law enforcement. Specifically, a rake was used to obliterate shoe impressions in the snow. I guess the moral of the story is if you're involved in criminal activity and you talk about it, eventually you're going to say something

that crosses that line into an area that you shouldn't know if you weren't involved. That is arguably the one piece of evidence that arguably ties Mr. Pankey to the crime. Arguably? They never released the information about the rake. So here's what I'll say. I can't tell you everything that I know

because I have attorney-client privilege and I'm still in the process of preparing the defense of my client. All right? But suffice it to say that we have reason to believe that that information was divulged to him, to Mr. Pankey. By whom? Again, at this point, I'm not at liberty to say. Well, I'll tell you what. Strike that.

I will say. By law enforcement. It's our position that it was divulged by law enforcement. All right? By the police? Yeah. They told him. All right? Do you know a name, a specific officer? I don't. But you know it was the police?

That's my understanding. The police refused to say anything about what Viorst charges. I have never said I did it. PAUL SOLMAN, But if much of what Pankey has said over the years has complicated his defense, a few things he's done could well help. Remember, he says he willingly gave authorities his DNA. I gave it up front.

I offered to take a polygraph test. I offered to take a voice stress test. I suggested that they impanel a grand jury and have me testify under oath. Police aren't saying much about what Pankey offered them, but District Attorney Michael Rourke did say something about the DNA that might encourage the defense. What I can say is that there is no definitive link, DNA-wise, between the defendant and Janelle Matthews' remains. Pankey is in jail now, unable to post a $5 million bond. On February 3, 2021, he entered his plea to all the charges. Your Honor, at this time, on behalf of Mr. Penke, we plead not guilty.

And now, both sides are preparing for trial. What's your impression of the case against your client? You know, they really don't have one. The only reason really that my client was charged is because he voluntarily, you know, interjected himself into the investigation. Do you think he wanted to get charged? Well, I think to some extent Mr. Pankey likes the limelight so much that he's enjoying being charged.

Yeah. It could be up to jurors to decide if Pankey is a murderer or made it all up. Mayor Gates hopes the prosecutors prevail. I think they did a stellar job and I commend our district attorney for prosecuting the case, but you know, time will tell. It's not over yet. Of course, it will never be over for Janelle's family, but a trial might give them answers for which they have spent decades waiting. Details about what happened on the worst night of their lives. If he is found guilty, hopefully we will know the scenario of what happened that night,

and then we can put as much closure on this case as is possible on this earth. What do you think happened to your sister? I don't know specifics, but he took her and he shot her. And then he buried her and went on with his life. And she could not go on with hers. I'm sorry. We've got a couple questions. Do you think it's time for schools to reopen?

We are still talking about this story, rightfully so. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet. one game of Monopoly. Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video

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