Pankey, who resided in Idaho in the years leading up to his arrest, was a 33-year-old used car salesman living in Greeley with his then-wife and young son at the time of Jonelle's disappearance. As a child, Mark recalled his father never owning, talking about or shooting guns. STEVEN PANKEY: That's the first time I heard that there was a missing child. More than three decades later, in 2019, Jonelle's body was found by a crew digging a pipeline. The comments made him suspicious given Jonelles disappearance, he said, so he reported them to the FBI rather than to local police. Viorst said Hicks met with prosecutors and completed multiple interviews with police, but she never talked to him. His son was friends with Pankey's son, Mark. Mayor John Gates: I had met him in about the mid-1970s. Who is Steve Pankey The presentation confirmed there was no probable cause to bring the case to prosecution due to a lack of evidence, Olson said. Mayor John Gates: I do. Her remains were discovered on July 24, 2019, and the trial for her The video showed Drake being questioned about his knowledge of the controlled evidence. We just had a big group of friends. Fred Smith knows real estate. Kelly Werthman: But it raised some significant and, I think, important questions. One of his cars was also engulfed in flames on their property around that time. Steven Dana Pankey took Jonelle Matthews from her family home, 320 43rd Avenue Court, without her consent and against her will on December 20, 1984 between STEVEN PANKEY: It was just me trying to be a big man, be in the case, OK? Most of his reports were lost when files switched over to a computer filing program at the Greeley Police Department, including the search warrant and most of the interviews other than Drakes. Hicks remembered seeing Pankey with a gun three times throughout their relationship: when he worked as a security guard at the job where the two first met, when he did target practice outside their home and when she pawned his gun in 1979. Pankey was seen in what was described by multiple witnesses as an orange-red vehicle over the years. Officers told Hicks that Pankey was the one who claimed to have information involving Jonelles disappearance but refused to give the police anything until they gave him immunity, she said. Tuesday, Hicks testified that a day before his memorial service, she witnessed a bizarre moment. Her remains were discovered on July 24, 2019, and the trial for her murder began. I am giving you bits and pieces of evidence that hasnt been released, Olson said in the full 1989 interview with Drake, according to Wells. I never met Jonelle, I never met her family, I didnt know she existed or disappeared until Wednesday, Dec. 26 (1984), Pankey said. Kelly Werthmann: I mean, as a reporter, you start lookin' around tryin' to do some searching of who this person is. Richard Schlesinger: Where was he the night Jonelle Matthews disappeared? The trial for Steve Pankey, the 70-year-old man accused of kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews in December 1984, began Wednesday with opening statements addressing his obsession with her case, his Aspergers condition and his confessions to involvement and knowledge surrounding her disappearance. Over the phone, Pankey said he was a pastor from a Baptist church. Until a man living in Twin Falls Idaho, Steven Pankey, became a person interest. Once the interviews with Drake and people he associated with him came to an end, law enforcement executed a search warrant of the Drake residence. The best home improvement jobs deserve the best materials. Barr explained what Pankey was like as a kid, claiming her brother had problems, including: Barr admitted to paying for Pankeys bills and seeing a subscription to broadcasts about cold case murders, which Viorst has used as an argument to defend Pankeys obsession in the Jonelle case as part of a larger true crime obsession.