Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 12-year-old girl found missing just after Honor Student Christmas Concert, leotards left on chair. Where is Jonelle?

Episode Date: August 30, 2019

12-year-old Jonelle Matthews disappears from the family home after a school concert. Footprints are found outside the home. Nothing disturbed inside, but Jonelle is gone. 35 years later her body is found, but police are no closer to solving the crime. Nancy Grace puts together the facts in this case with Judge and trial attorney Ashley Wilcott, Forensics expert Joseph Scott morgan, Psychologist Dr Caryn Stark, Former Detective Steven Lampley and Crime Online Investigative Reporter Levi Page. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Just a few days before Christmas 1984, Janelle was dropped off at home after a choir concert. When her parents returned an hour later, Janelle was gone. Her shoes were left behind, the front door was open, the TV was on. No good clues or solid leads have ever been found in the case. Both police and her family are convinced Janelle was kidnapped and murdered. Shoes left behind right after a choir concert? You were hearing our friend at News 9. That was Roger Wolfe talking about the

abduction of a beautiful 12-year-old little girl, Janelle Matthews. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Take a listen to our friend at KMGH. This is Stuart Jacoby. 12-year-old Janelle Matthews disappeared from her Greeley home one month ago today. It's believed she's the victim of a kidnapping. She has not been seen or heard from since December 20th. Authorities and the girl's parents still have many avenues open to them in their search, but the Matthews family feels their widest avenue is prayer. A 24-hour prayer vigil began at noon today at most Greeley churches.

The Matthews family, Jim, Gloria, and 16-year-old Jennifer attend the Sunnyview Church of the Nazarene. Throughout the ordeal, their faith has been strong and unwavering. One of the things we're learning through this is patience, obviously, and realizing that we have to turn this over to God, and it's God's timing that's going to bring her back. Jim Matthews says it's fellow church members, Christians, who are helping him and his family work through this ordeal. Church members and students will conduct an area-wide foot search for Janelle sometime next month. Meanwhile, Jim Matthews says he and his family will keep hanging on to the hope that Janelle is alive and will one day be found. We'll keep hanging on, he says, and will not give up. Can you imagine the suffering this family has gone through? She goes to a choir concert that night and then seemingly disappears off the face of the earth. The only thing left behind,

the shoes she was wearing, a bizarre and heartbreaking clue left behind. Joining me right now, an all-star panel, Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer. You can find her at ashleywilcott.com. Renowned forensics expert, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. Dr. Karen Stark, psychologist. You can find her at karenstark.com. Joining us today from Manhattan, Stephen Lampley, detective, author of Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, but straight out to crimeonline.com, investigative reporter, Levi Page. Take me through

the night of her, Janelle Matthews, a 12-year-old little girl, disappearance. Well, the night that she vanished, she was participating in a choir program, and she was singing Christmas carols with people her age at a nursing home. And she had a friend that took her back home. Their family took her back home at approximately 8 p.m. And she was home alone because her mother was visiting family out of state. And her dad was at a basketball game that her sister was playing. And they returned around 9.30 p.m. that night, came home and discovered Janelle missing.

Now, the dad, you're referring to Janelle's adopted dad, Jim. Correct. You're saying he was at a basketball game that night with Janelle's sister. Okay, so we know where he was. Where's the mom? She was out of state visiting relatives. Okay, question. Who brought her home from the from the uh concert at the nursing

home we know that it was a family a friend of hers their family dropped her off and we know that she did arrive home because her father was a principal at an elementary school and a teacher had called that night and left a message for her father that Janelle was supposed to relay to him. She never got to relay that message. I'm sorry, what did you say about a message? Her father was a principal at an elementary school, and one of the teachers that worked for him had called and was trying to reach him. He wasn't there, but she left a message for Janelle, and she never got to relay that message. But we do know that she was home because a teacher called and spoke to her on the phone. The name of the ride was D. Ann Ross, was a little friend of Janelle Matthews.

It was her father and her, D. Ann Ross, that gave Janelle a ride home. And you're right. It's confirmed, Levi Page, that she was at the house. Now, tell me about the search that ensued looking for 12-year-old Janelle, Levi. The entire community was searching for her, and police found footprints in the back of the home and the garage door was open. Those are the only clues that we have regarding this case. This little girl, Janelle Matthews, was last seen wearing a blue vest and a red shirt. She was wearing that when she performed at a Christmas concert with the Franklin Middle School Honor Choir there in Greeley, Colorado. We also know for sure that a friend after the concert, Janelle's friend and her

dad, dropped her off around 8 p.m. at a snow-covered ranch-style home where she lived with her dad, Jim, mom Gloria, sister Jennifer. Now, her parents tell police they get home at 10 p.m. that night to find the front door open and their 12-year-old little girl, who's just the cutest thing ever, gone. That is what they said. Her shoes were sitting by a chair. Her leotards were thrown over the couch. But she was gone.

No arrest has been made. And the community was in shock and stayed in shock for years. Take a listen to this. I just have, I feel a lot of gratitude that missing children are not forgotten. Janelle Matthews is not forgotten ten years after she disappeared. Police and volunteers scoured every corner of Weld County looking for her. Just a few days before Christmas 1984, Janelle was dropped off at home after a choir concert. When her parents returned an hour later, Janelle was gone.

Her shoes were left behind, the front door was open, the TV was on. No good clues or solid leads have ever been found in the case. Both police and her family are convinced Janelle was kidnapped and murdered. Next Tuesday, the Matthews family will gather with friends in Greeley for a church service to remember Janelle and to say goodbye. We've never said goodbye to her, and it's just kind of putting a closure on it, because most likely she is dead. And our hearts are torn in wanting to put a closure on it,

and yet keeping a hope. And somehow or other, this hope, I think Tuesday night will kind of be buried. You know, this thread of hope will bury that hope, I think. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Friends dropped Janelle off at her Greeley home after a choir concert. When her father got to the house later that evening, she was gone. Her shoes and a shawl were the only clues left behind. Ten years later, the Matthews family held a funeral service for their missing daughter.

Still no arrests, no clues, and no closure. We realized that we haven't got complete finality here because we don't have a body or proof of something, but we still want to go through and commit Janelle to the Lord and just say goodbye to her. Thirty-four years after Janelle Matthews saw her family for the final time. I can assure you that we are going to be working tirelessly to bring justice to Janelle. A break in the case, even if it isn't yet solved. And while this week's discovery is something officers here in Greeley have been working towards for more than 30 years, actually solving this case is far more difficult. There have been suspects over the years throughout the course of this investigation, but no one has ever been

charged in this crime. Our friend at NBC9, that was Mark Salinger, a little girl sings at an honor concert at a local nursing home, a concert put together by her school, is brought home by a classmate and her dad. They leave. Don't get the idea that the dad lingered in the home, by all accounts. But when her own adoptive parents get home two hours later, they find her shoes, the leotard she wore for her outfit, but no Janelle. Take a listen to this as the years tick by. This is a case the Greeley Police Department

has been working to solve for more than 30 years. Janelle Matthews was 12 years old when she went missing. Today she'd be in her mid-40s. Officers say they've never stopped looking for her. This case has weighed heavy on the hearts of the Greeley Police Department and the family and the entire city of Greeley. Since that December night she went missing in 1984, people searched throughout Weld County and the entire country for the 12-year-old. President Ronald Reagan even mentioned her in one of his national addresses. I feel a lot of gratitude that missing children are not forgotten. Gloria Matthews and her husband Jim were the first to notice their daughter was missing.

You know, when you look at scenarios like this to Ashley Wilcott, the first thing you do, and sad but true, you look at the parents. Because so often, unfortunately, in the world I live in, the work I do, parents are responsible. Because there's no other good common sense explanation. A kid just disappears. What? Are you kidding me? So you look at the closest people first, which are the parents. And then you go outward from there to look at the other relatives and people that knew the child.

But you always, unfortunately, have to start with the parents. You have to. To Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert, professor of forensics, and author, why? Why do we always start with the parents? Because they're the biggest stakeholders, Nancy. They're the ones that have an intimate relationship. And obviously, they're the ones that are going to have access to the victim. And that is paramount when we conduct this investigation. We're going to look at all of the intimates within the victim's circle. To Stephen Lampley, detective, author of Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer. You can find that

on Amazon. Steve, in a case like this, you've got a two-hour window. She's dropped off by the little friend and her dad at eight. The parents come home at 10. The mom is out of state. The dad is with his other daughter, Janelle's sister, at a basketball game. They find her shoes and the leotard she was wearing laying over a sofa. And I mean, to me, that sounds absolutely normal because I can't remember. You know, my twins don't get past. They come in the back door. They get as far as far as the den that's not that's like 10 steps and there go all their shoes their clothes their everything i could see that i could see her coming in taking off her shoes and those tight leotards girls have to wear and throwing them on the chair but that's all there is of her the only clue steve what do you do in a case like that well

answer this is a tough one you know since she did, she came in and she put her clothes down and she even brought a space heater. Her dad said brought a space heater over to where she would normally sit so she would stay warm. There's not a lot to go on. I don't know what, I do know there were footprints outside the windows as if somebody was looking in. There were supposedly some footprints either in, I couldn't make sense out of this, either in the garage or outside the garage in the snow like the others were by the windows. There's a supposition, there was some talk that I read somewhere on this case that she perhaps knew the person or had had prior interaction with the person, given the fact that there was no obvious struggle. I don't know if indeed there was somebody that she

knew. But this is a tough one, Nancy. But you start off, like we talked about, you start off always with the inner circle. You start off, in this case, with the parents because there was no boyfriend or husband. And you go out from there and then that's all you can do. What about it to Justice Scott Morgan, forensics expert? What do you do with those facts that Steve Lampley, detective, laid out? You pursue every inch that you possibly can. And listen, you have to hold on to this information. Nancy, we're multiple decades past this event. So what they did back then is

very, very important relative to keeping her narrative alive. So you have to follow each one of these leads relative to those footprints that Stephen was referring to. You have to document those very carefully and see if they're actually matchable to a set of, say, footprints that they might have on record. And it's not going to be to a specific person, but say, for instance, to a type of shoe. One thing that's very important here, though, to keep in mind is that whatever happened, I believe happened quickly

because her shoes were left inside. You have already stated that it was cold outside. We're talking about Colorado, Nancy. This is December. You know that it was freezing.. We're talking about Colorado, Nancy. This is December. You know that it was freezing. So this was a very quick event. Take a listen to our friends at CBS4. This is Tori Mason. I spoke to Janelle's mother this morning and she says her family is numb. After 34 years, their daughter has been found and now it's time to find the person responsible. This case has weighed heavy on the hearts of the Greeley Police Department

and the family and the entire city of Greeley. Oilfield workers found human remains in Weld County Tuesday night, about 24 miles from the Matthews home in Greeley. Evidence at the scene helped investigators determine the remains belong to 12 year old Janelle Matthews.

According to GPD, there was red and blue clothing similar to what Janelle was wearing the night. She went missing. Janelle disappeared on December 20th, 1984 after performing a concert with the Franklin Middle School Honor Choir. She was last seen entering her home after being dropped off by a friend and her friend's father.

Now the investigation remains active and Greeley Police says they're chasing tips on a suspect. Anyone with information is asked to contact their tip line. I don't understand how cops were led to this location. To Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Tell me about the discovery of these bones. So oil workers were digging a pipeline in Weld County, which is about 22 miles south of Greeley, Colorado, where this 12-year-old vanished. What are the chances, Nancy, they're digging this pipeline and they come across her body 34 years after she vanished. It's a miracle.

Her parents seem to have given up hope that she would ever be found. And then it happens. And there's so many cold cases out there. And even though this may not be what we all wanted, at least they now gave her a proper memorial. They knew that she's dead. They know that she's dead now. And Nancy, you know what is so tragic about this? Her biological mother gave her up for adoption when she was 13 years old and police actually investigated her. They had her under surveillance

for six weeks. She lives in Los Angeles and the FBI was looking at her, but they couldn't tell her based on the law because it was a closed adoption. And then decades later, in 1997, she goes searching for her biological daughter and then discovers that her daughter is missing, presumed dead. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here, a beautiful mom of two. In fact, I call her a Reese Witherspoon lookalike because in a lot of pictures, that's exactly who she looks like. The mother of two beautiful little children, including an eight-year-old little girl, is found dead in a bloody bathtub, a slip and fall. And her eight-year-old daughter, Anna, is the one that found her. This Saturday, six o'clock Eastern, five Central, on Oxygen, Injustice with Nancy Grace, we investigate the death of Shelly Daniszewski, because I do not believe this was a slip and fall. And from what I can see, there has been a grave injustice on many levels. Please join us in a search for the truth this Saturday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 5 Central, Injustice with Nancy Grace. Thanks, guys.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. So this is the area where Jonelle's body was found by that oil field crew. It's about 30 minutes away from her home, and you can imagine what this area looked like 34 years crew. It's about 30 minutes away from her home and you can imagine what this area looked like 34 years ago. It was more or less just an empty field at the time. Out here along County Road 34 and a half, it's busy. Oil field crews heading in and out of an area that will soon be home to Weld County's newest pipeline. Along with all the construction traffic, a single police car after the remains of Jonelle Matthews were discovered here on Tuesday.

We would also like to offer our deepest condolences to the Matthews family. I can assure you that we are going to be working tirelessly to bring justice to Jonelle. For more than three decades, her family has been searching for answers. Because there was never a body found or anything, you just don't know. Her sister Jennifer now lives in Washington. It was always like a cold case, and sometimes I'd go to Walmart and I would see the age progression photos, and that would kind of like startle you a little bit. You're hearing our friends at Denver 7. That was Megan Lopez.

Take a listen to NBC 9's Mark Salinger. The journey back to Colorado was easy. Travel was very uneventful. Easy compared to the journey they've been on for 34 years. Of course it was a real shock when we first heard it. Gloria and Jim Matthews got the call last week. A detective in Greeley had some long-awaited news. We both were just really surprised and shocked.

Totally caught off guard, yeah. We have been consigned to the fact that we probably never would know what happened to her. And this is just an absolute miracle about how she was found. Janelle's case stumped investigators and captivated the country. Five days before Christmas, Janelle disappeared from her home. It was an excavation crew that would find her remains at an oil and gas site in Weld County 34 years later. So we really believe that God has provided a miracle for this to happen. While Greeley police work to figure out who is responsible for Janelle's death, her parents say they just wanted to find her.

We're at peace. Everything changed in the late afternoon when oil field workers who were digging a pipeline about a quarter of a mile northwest of a Weld County Road 49 unearthed a small hole containing a child's skull, bones, and a severed jaw fit with braces. This is what we're learning according to the Greeley Tribune. I got a question for you. Joe Scott Morgan, a professor of forensics at Jacksonville State, after nearly 35 years, could clothing found with the bones and braces reveal forensic evidence that could lead to the killer? Well, relative to the braces, the braces are a specific identifier, Nancy, and that work that was done orthodontically is going to be traced back to the individual that did the work. However, as far as the braces are concerned, no, I don't think that there would be an indication there. However, with clothing, for instance, particularly synthetic blends that are in there, you're not

going to find like a lot of natural stuff like cottons and that sort of thing. But synthetic blends, if they have clothing, the state of the clothing, was it torn? Was it ripped? Was it deposited? Say, for instance, as you know, we have a lot of these cases where we'll have skeletal remains that are found. We might find clothing that's in an adjacent area as if the person was stripped nude and then the clothing set aside. That might give us more of the nature of the case, but as far as a specific identifier, I think that that would be very, very difficult. What about DNA from the perp on either her braces, which lead you to a lot of horrible images about what may have happened to her, or on her clothing? Couldn't there be DNA on particularly her clothing, if not her braces, but even on her braces. Yeah. You know, I think that it would be ideally. Yeah. I think that that, that would be great to

have. But the problem is Nancy, we're very familiar with this area where her body was found. It's, it's a very arid area. It's, it's hostile. She's been buried, I'm assuming, in bare dirt. Remember, they were talking about how there was a hole that was dug and she was placed in there. I think that from a biological standpoint, anything that was there as far as DNA, because of the environmental exposure, I think that it would be very, very difficult to recover anything. But I just keep thinking, if her clothing, I guess I'm grasping at straws because I want this solved. I just can't help but think that there could be DNA on her clothing. I mean, apparently her clothing was still on her body. I don't know that fact. I don't know that it wasn't separate.

But apparently the clothing was on her body. Yeah, and that's a significant finding from an investigative standpoint. If she was not stripped of her clothing and we have essentially a set of human bones that are found contained within clothing, that tells us a bit more about the nature of the crime if she was not undressed. So I think that this is going to be more reliant, this case, in solving this case, it's going to be more reliant upon the nature in which her body was found, more so than, say, at a molecular level, trying to tie this back to somebody specifically. Well, also, then you have super freaks who would redress victims, which is always a possibility. But if he did do that, he could have left DNA.

But another issue, which I find to be very probative, but if he did do that, he could have left DNA. But another issue, which I find to be very probative, or it proves something to me, the clothing that she was wearing were tattered. The clothing was tattered, but it was the blue and red clothes she was wearing at the time she disappeared. That tells me she hadn't gone back to the back and taken a bath and put on her PJs. As Steve Lampley said earlier, this happened very, very quickly. But what more do we know? Right now, no comment on how authorities were able to identify the remains. But I guarantee you, if the parents saw the blue and red outfit, they would know immediately. And as Joe Scott was saying, you don't necessarily need DNA if you have the teeth.

If you have the teeth and the braces that were individual to her, that's how you identify her. You don't have to wait on DNA. What about it, Joe Scott? Yeah, you're absolutely right. Because particularly with braces, Nancy, you know, she's only 12. So she's not going to have like us as adults, she's not going to have like a lot of restorations in her mouth, relative to things like fillings and caps and crowns and all those sorts of things. But those braces are very specific. That gives us an indicator that the orthodontist, the orthodontist felt as though that all of her adult teeth had erupted at that point in time because now they're trying to specifically straighten those.

And so that is a major identifier for her. But, you know, from a forensic standpoint, trying to solve this case, we're going to have to rely on who, and this is very important, who had access and knowledge of not just her home, but to this specific area. This is a very, very specific area in amongst all of these oil fields. I hate to bring his name up, but keep in mind, this is where Chris Watts deposited those bodies. That gives you an idea of how vast this area is. So tell me again what you're saying about the specific nature of where her body was found.

Yeah, you know, keep in mind, she was found, Janelle was found along this kind of pipeline area that was out there that Levi had described. It is a very vast area. Chris Watts worked in an area very similar to this in Weld County, the same county, believe it or not, all of these years later. And I find it's rife with irony that this little girl's body would be deposited out there. But, you know, Chris Watts had specific knowledge of that area because he worked in that area. I think for me, you would want to look at individuals that were working on this construction site that had knowledge of this area. They knew that it was secluded, that no one else, they thought at least, would ever come back to it. And, of course, in this case, they did. To Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter.

Levi, go through the area for me again, because I find what Joe Scott Morgan is saying is very, very significant. I mean, I always use Scott Peterson because it's a good example. He's a fisherman. Where does he hide? Lacey and Connor's body. Out where he goes fishing in San Francisco Bay. That's just an example of people go to a place where they are familiar, a place where they have been before. Just like Chris Watts, how he buried his wife Shanann and Celeste and Bella at the Anadarko oil fields

where he worked. Tell me about where Janelle's body was found. It was in Weld County, Colorado, and it was 22 miles south of where she went missing in Greeley, Colorado. So this was not in the same town. It was 22 miles away. So if there's any suspects that police had over the years, I would wonder if they are going back and looking to see if they have any ties to Weld County, Colorado. And you know what's odd about this case, Nancy, is police have investigated several people. Remember in the JonBenet Ramsey case, John Mark Carr gave a false confession because he was a nutcase that was obsessed with John Bonnet. This was a very high profile case. President Reagan even mentioned it. And there were people similar in this case

that were obsessed with the case, that collected newspaper clippings and were giving false confessions and police had to investigate them. So police have investigated a lot of people over the years. And I hope they go back to see if anybody has ties to this remote rural area in Weld County, Colorado, 22 miles south of where she lived. crime stories with nancy grace of course it was a real shock um when we first heard it gloria and jim matthews got the call last week a detective in greeley had some long-awaited news we both were just really surprised and shocked totally caught caught off guard, yeah. We have been consigned to the fact that we probably never would know what happened to her. And this is just an absolute miracle about how she was found.

Janelle's case stumped investigators and captivated the country. Five days before Christmas, Janelle disappeared from her home. It was an excavation crew that would find her remains at an oil and gas site in Weld County 34 years later. So we really believe that God has provided a miracle for this to happen. While Greeley police work to figure out who is responsible for Janelle's death, her parents say they just wanted to find her. We're at peace. You are hearing Janelle's parents speaking to Denver 9 News straight out to judge and trial lawyer Ashley Wilcott at ashleywilcott.com. I have so many questions and so many thoughts colliding in my head right now. Weigh in, Ashley Wilcott. Yeah, so first of all, you know, my heart goes out to this family because

I want to throw up. I've got an 11-year-old. I can't even imagine your 12-year-old goes missing, but a couple of things. It is a miracle they found the body. Now that they found the body, though, they can tell from testing of the body at the age at which she died. So now we're going to know that she most likely died at the age of 12, not that she was kept captive somewhere and then killed years later. Second of all, there was mention of, I believe, unless I misunderstood, a broken jawbone perhaps. And if that's the case, that's going to give more information about what happened to her, perhaps how she was killed. Now, the last piece I have to say is now this goes from a cold case with one crime scene. The only crime scene they had

was a house from which she disappeared, leaving everything behind. Now they have an entire other crime scene where the body was found, and now they can investigate from there outward. So start at that crime scene and see, did anyone see anything? Who was in the area? So it gives them a whole bunch of new opportunity to find evidence to solve this cold case. Wow. Well put, Ashley Wilcott. To Steve Lampley, detective, author of Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, what do you make of Ashley's correct observation that we now have a secondary crime scene? What, if anything, can we learn from it? Well, there's any number of things.

Going back to the DNA, it is possible that there is. I don't know so much about the DNA still on the teeth or even necessarily on the clothing, but my guess, and Joseph Scott would know more than I, that there may be the greatest chances for DNA might be fiber left by the suspect on her clothing or maybe from the car or the truck or however she was transported. I'd be looking at that. Or, hello, sperm. You think the perp just kidnapped her to go for an evening drive? No, he kidnapped her for a reason.

I'm thinking this through and I'm deducing a lot to Joseph Scott Morgan, a forensic expert. She was killed the night that she was abducted. She still had on the same clothing. Okay. There was a space of two hours, two hours, according to the timeline that we have, who, if anyone saw her. Okay. We know that the perp realized she was home alone. Who would know that? Who would know how to go to the back window and leave footprints in the snow? Who would know she was there? Her mom was out of town. Her dad was at a basketball game. Because if you thought somebody else was home, highly unlikely you would break into the home and steal a little girl. There was no sign

of a struggle. It all tells me very clearly that she knew the perv. This was not some perv that saw her singing at the rest home and went, well, I'm going to follow her home. For all the perv knew, would have known, that was her dad taking her home okay so that didn't happen this is somebody that knew her and knew she was home alone joe scott help me out hey look uh this is not dumb luck that this happened nancy uh someone i think probably targeted this and it's somebody that has a specific inclination towards children this age. That's why I think that right now, in today's present context, this monster might still be alive. I think that it's very important that they go back and they check the registered sex offenders

that originated in this area that have a history of this. Hopefully that they're doing this moving forward. Somebody that had intimate knowledge of the family. Nancy, I mean, who else is, you know, look, the dad's not there, the mom's not there, okay? We know that there's a concert. We know that the girl's there home alone. You've got somebody that felt comfortable enough to walk around the perimeter of this house,

peeking in the windows, potentially leaving shoe prints behind and touching all manner of things. That's all gone at this point. I hope they documented it really well, but what kind of tie back do we have to some kind of sycophant that's out there that are not sycophant, but some kind of sicko that's out there that's actually targeting small children of this age? I think that that's very critical in this case. Isn't it true that DNA, although it may be dried up, you can get DNA years later, Joe Scott? Yeah, you can, Nancy, if it is in a protected environment. And that's the big hook here.

One of the things I was always amazed with Golden State, for instance, is that they were able to preserve that evidence so well. And I think the evidence that he had left behind all those years ago, they were able to protect that. And I say they, the police with the evidence room, and you and I have been in some nasty evidence rooms, that they were able to maintain that in a pristine condition. How well were they able to collect any kind of physical evidence that was found at the scene? So far, I haven't heard anything about blood deposits, about any indication that there's some kind of other biological evidence left behind that they had noted to preserve. So that's going to be key. Let me ask you this while I've got you, Joe Scott.

What is the location and the manner in which she was buried? We don't know how she was killed, whether she was asphyxiated, strangled or smothered, whether she was shot, whether she was stabbed. What can you say about the severed jaw? Did that happen just naturally? But more important, the location and the manner in which she was buried. What does that tell us about the killer's MO? Let's talk about the jaw first off, since you mentioned it. If people will just touch their chin, there's actually what's referred to as a suture line in that area. That's where the bones fuse together. It's not surprising that the jaw would kind of break in half after 34 years, and it's not really a breaking as much as it is. And this is an assumption on my part that it has just naturally kind of fallen apart. Now, if there's a specific break there, which they can

tell after all these years, that means that it was fractured by, say, blunt force trauma. That means that we're dealing with probably a brutal, brutal killer. This is going to be a male that did this. And let's think about what would it take, what kind of person would take a 12-year-old girl and beat her to the point where you're going to break her jaw. If that is the case, that gives us an indication as to the individual. Now, as far as burial, you know, with back again to the monster that Chris Watts is, the burial that he had for his wife was very shallow. We do know from the investigators that that soil out there is very, very hard. I'm assuming the soil there where Janelle was found is very, very hard. They're assuming the soil there where Janelle was found is very, very hard.

They're talking about, they're using the term, she was buried down in a hole. That means that the individual had time with her body to take an implement and dig down into the soil and remove the dirt, place her into the hole so that she would never be found up until this point and then cover her up. He had time with his body out there. He was comfortable with his area. He knew the area. And the M.O. and where and how she was buried, that tells you that the killer was comfortable,

not afraid of getting caught, had plenty of time to do it, and, of course, was a male digging down into that hard soil to cover her up, thinking she would never be found. Back to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Janelle's adopted dad, Jim, was considered a suspect at the time. Was he cleared, and will he find himself back under scrutiny again, Levi? He was considered a suspect. However, the police are not saying if he is still to this day considered a suspect. They're not giving any details on if they even have any suspects. I do know that there was a truck driver that lived in the area that was going around bragging that he did this. The police wrote him off and said

that he was someone that was just seeking attention. But I'm wondering if a truck driver fits the profile of someone that would be familiar with this area since they're driving around a lot. What about it to Karen Stark, psychologist joining us out of Manhattan? I guess the dad, since the mom was out of state, has to just settle in for the fact that he's going to be raked over the coals again, right or wrong? I think that that might happen, depending upon what they find, Nancy. But what everyone is saying, if you pay attention, is that it's somebody, they believe it's somebody who's familiar with that area. And I think that that's a really good point. You have to find somebody who has a history of

preying upon young girls, a sexual offender. I really think that will make a difference. And who is familiar with that area. And the dad seems to have an alibi, so I'm not sure that they would focus on him. To you, Joe Scott, what are the odds investigators will track down Janelle's killer? Well, I think that the odds are going to rest upon how deep they dig into sexual offenders. You know, I got to tell you, I don't know if my colleague Karen will agree with me on this, but this is what I think. If this individual has a proclivity for offending with little girls this age and is a violent offender, this will not be the only time he has done this. He has a desire within him to do harm to little children this age. I think that if you look at other cases with people that are familiar with this specific area, I think that that's going to be key. And back to what Levi was saying,

he is this truck driver that he had mentioned. I'd revisit that because truck drivers would, in fact, have interest in or have knowledge of this area. Keep in mind, this area was under construction when all of this was taking place. You had people that were bringing supplies out there. You had people that were bringing heavy equipment out there. They're going to have specific knowledge of it. And, man, I tell you what, I think that I would look really, really hard at him and anybody in this particular community that is a sex offender. Yeah, a sex offender that just happens to know she's alone for those two hours that feels like they have all the time in the world.

We don't know any real timeline about when she was abducted. Our thoughts and prayers with those that love Janelle Matthews as we wait for justice to unfold. Tip line 970-351-5100. Repeat 970-351-5100. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.