GREELEY, Colo. — For more than three decades, investigators searched for any clues that could lead them to who killed 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews. Now we’re learning more about Steve Pankey, the man indicted by a Weld County grand jury in connection with her murder.
Pankey is facing first-degree murder charges, a second-degree kidnapping with a weapon charge, as well as others. He is being held without bond in Idaho while he awaits extradition back to Colorado.
"He was a very ignorant, obnoxious, dirty person," said Sherri Kasper, Pankey's cousin. "I could see him do something like that. He was very hot-tempered. It didn’t take much for him to snap."
Kasper said Pankey lived with her family when they were younger and spoke with 9NEWS earlier this year about him.
Russell Ross was Pankey’s boss at the 7Up factory in northern Colorado in the 1980s.
"I guess a good way to put it is that he was kind of insecure. He wasn’t a really outgoing kind of person," said Ross.
Ross was one of the last to see Jonelle Matthews on December 20, 1984. He drove Jonelle and his daughter home from the choir concert they had attended in Greeley.
"We picked her up from the school, drove her to the house, and pulled up at the house and dropped her off," Ross told 9NEWS in an interview in early 2020. "She went in the house and we left. That was kind of the last we saw of her."
For the next 34 years she’d be missing. It wasn’t until Tuesday that someone was charged with killing her.
Jennifer Mogensen is Jonelle’s older sister. Last year, when Jonelle’s remains were found the family held a service to say goodbye.
Now they hope Pankey will be convicted.
"We are really excited about this first step towards justice for Jonelle. It’s bittersweet. There’s a lot of pain that comes with it, but this is what we’ve been waiting for for 35 years," said Mogensen. "It’s healing and closure. There might be some other wounds that get opened up."
Though Pankey’s name is now in the headlines, tonight, Jonelle’s family remembers the 12-year-old who never had a chance to grow up.
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