Steven Pankey ran for Governor of Idaho twice but lost. He is now charged with the 1984 murder of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews in Colorado.
Greeley Police Department/Twitter Steven Pankey was charged with the 1984 murder of Jonelle Matthews. Thirty-five years after 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews went missing from the town of Greeley, Colorado in 1984, her remains were finally found in a desolate field southeast of the town, according to the Greeley Police Department. In 2019 her death was ruled a murder by the local coroner. Nearly 36 years after Jonelle went missing, a man who once ran for Governor of Idaho, Steven Pankey,69, was indicted for killing the child by shooting her in the head, court records show. Pankey ran for Governor of Idaho in 2018 saying as part of his bio that he studied criminal justice in Greeley. He ran as a Republican who called himself a “Christian conservative” and “ardent defender of the constitution” who “supports President Trump’s Nationalist Policies.” Pankey also ran for governor of Idaho in 2014 as a Constitution Party candidate, according to the Idaho Statesman. More recently, Pankey ran for Sheriff of Twin Falls in Idaho this past May but lost. Greeley Police DepartmentSteven Pansky in 1984, the year Jonelle Matthews went missing. According to the indictment, Pankey was somewhat obsessed about the case, inserting himself at times. In fact, the indictment alleges many unusual behaviors from Pankey following December 20,1984, when Matthews was reported missing from her home after family friends dropped her off following a Christmas concert she sang in, according to the Colorado Sun.
