When Steven Pankey took the stand in his personal homicide trial, he braced the jury for startling testimony in regards to the 1984 disappearance of Jonelle Matthews. "That is the arduous half as a result of I raised my hand and I swore to inform the reality, the entire fact and nothing however the fact," Pankey advised a packed courtroom in Weld County, Colorado, on October 28, 2021. Pankey, 70, incessantly veered off subject as he tried to elucidate why he inserted himself in a high-profile kidnapping and homicide that he says he didn't commit. "I started a collection of lies and it bought larger and greater through the years," Pankey stated, including, "One lie results in one other." It was a weird twist within the tragic case of Jonelle Matthews, who was kidnapped from her residence in Greeley, Colorado, on December 20, 1984. "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger's unique report on the chilly case homicide trial, "Who Killed Jonelle Matthews," airs Saturday, January 8 at 10/9c on CBS.and Paramount+ Jonelle was 12 years previous when she disappeared after attending a Christmas choir live performance. A household pal dropped Jonelle off at residence alone, and she or he was by no means seen alive once more. Police initially checked out Jonelle's father, Jim Matthews, who was the primary to find his daughter was lacking. After clearing Jim Matthews, police struggled to discover a suspect. Pankey lived two miles from the Matthews home in December 1984 and had as soon as attended the identical church because the Matthews, however he was not thought of a suspect till he repeatedly inserted himself into the investigation over a number of a long time. "I advised the FBI I need to discuss to you," Pankey recalled on the stand. "It might or could not have one thing to do with Jonelle Matthews." Pankey, a former safety guard, used automotive salesman and self-professed "true-crime junkie," wasn't charged within the case for 35 years. "He is a true-crime junkie. He will get himself in the course of homicide circumstances, however that does not essentially imply he really was concerned in them," Pankey's then-defense lawyer Anthony Viorst advised the jury. By way of the years, Pankey typically spoke to native media, investigators, and anybody else who would hearken to him about his theories on Matthews. "I stated I believed that they need to look into the church. I believed that they need to look into her trusted adults," Pankey testified. Within the time since Jonelle's disappearance, Pankey moved to Idaho the place he ran for governor twice and county sheriff 3 times. His marketing campaign for the highest legislation enforcement place included the tagline "Pankey is the antidote for bozo sheriff investigations." Pankey now needs a jury to consider he is been the sufferer of a misguided prison investigation in Colorado. Though he as soon as named himself an individual of curiosity within the case, Pankey testified his involvement was all fabrication — orchestrated by him to get again at Greeley Police and others in the neighborhood who he felt had wronged him. "I've had police up to now make up issues relating to me," Pankey stated. The day earlier than Matthews' disappearance in 1984, Pankey was arrested for inflicting a scene at a financial institution and launched hours later. It is only one instance in a protracted line of surprising run-ins with police that Pankey believes made him a goal in Greeley. Police and courtroom data of what finally occurred with these incidents are now not accessible. "I did not belief the Weld County Sheriff. I did not belief the Greeley police," Pankey testified. Within the Matthews case, Pankey gave unsolicited statements to the Greeley Police Division, the Weld County District Lawyer's Workplace, and the FBI over the course of 30 years. "It was simply me making an attempt to be a giant man, [and] be within the case, OK? I had no data," Pankey testified. It is a unusual option to get consideration, admits Viorst. However he says that is simply a part of Pankey's eccentric nature. "Mr. Pankey loves the limelight. He simply does, for no matter purpose," Viorst advised "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger in an unique interview as he was getting ready for trial. Pankey even inserted details about Jonelle Matthews into his personal 2003 divorce case, writing that Jonelle's household must be advised she "died earlier than crossing tenth Avenue." Pankey's protection lawyer advised Schlesinger this was one other instance of his consumer feigning data of the case. "That is simply, you understand, pulled out of skinny air," Viorst stated. "It isn't true. It isn't based mostly on something." Pankey says that by 2014, a number of of his letters to the DA's workplace had been returned to sender, unopened, and Pankey misplaced curiosity within the case. "I simply stopped speaking in regards to the Jonelle Matthews case," Pankey stated. However after authorities found Jonelle's physique in July 2019, they started taking Pankey's statements extra severely and paid him a go to at his residence in Idaho, the place he had since relocated. Throughout that interview, Pankey testified he advised detectives that his info on the Matthews case "could be actual or imagined." Pankey was arrested for Jonelle's kidnapping and homicide on October 12, 2020. Within the indictment, authorities cited Pankey's many statements through the years as proof of his involvement within the case. They gave explicit significance to Pankey's feedback about proof discovered outdoors the Matthews' residence. "Pankey knew of and mentioned an important piece of proof from the Matthews home withheld from the general public by legislation enforcement; particularly, a rake was used to obliterate shoe impressions within the snow," the indictment states. However Pankey says there's one other clarification. "I bought info from them. The longer you discuss to a cop, some info goes to come back out in some unspecified time in the future." Pankey testified. When Weld County District Lawyer Michael Rourke cross-examined Pankey, he was incredulous. "You've got had 37 years to consider what you had been going to say when you ever needed to sit on that stand, and that is what you got here up with yesterday, 'I made it up?'" Rourke requested. "Sure," Pankey replied. Viorst says whereas Pankey's statements are definitely unusual, they have no actual place within the investigation. "Nothing he is ever stated really implicates him within the homicide," Viorst advised Schlesinger. Regardless of his cryptic feedback in regards to the case, Pankey has at all times maintained that he by no means got here into contact with Jonelle Matthews. "I wasn't on the Matthews' residence. I did not know who they had been," Pankey testified. After testifying for 2 days, Pankey appeared exhausted on the stand as he pleaded his case. "And that is the reality, OK? And I am completely humiliated. I wished to deal with this in a lesser method," Pankey stated. 
