Slow Burn Media, Evergreen Podcast, presents Who Killed?

A podcast that provides a voice for the voiceless.

Nearly four decades after a young girl disappeared, a jury has convicted her killer.

The jury found Steve Panky guilty of kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Janelle Matthews in Greeley. She disappeared back in 1984.

Panky's first trial had ended in a mistrial, but this time it took jurors less than a day to reach a decision.

Nine news crime and justice reporter Matt Jablow is in Greeley joining us now with more on the decision Matt

Tom Janelle's parents said they often thought this day would never come but now that it has they're overjoyed and deeply grateful

I just want to cry thirty eight years after their daughter Janelle disappeared Jim and Gloria Matthews said justice delayed was not justice denied.

What did I feel when they announced the verdict?

Well, obviously relief.

In December of 1984, 12-year-old Janelle Matthews was kidnapped from her home in Greeley.

Her body was finally

found 35 years later in 2019 by oil workers digging in a remote field in Weld County.

That was a miracle. Then in 2020, police arrested Stephen Pankey, a former Weld County resident,

who over the years told police and prosecutors that he would lead them to Janelle's body in exchange for immunity from prosecution, which he never received.

We, the jury find the defendant, Stephen Dana Pinky guilty.

Late Monday morning, a jury found Panky guilty of first-degree murder, and a few hours later, a judge sentenced him to life in prison

with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Close your finality for our family and praising God for his help in this as well.

I cannot forgive him for how he killed Janelle.

God is the only one who can forgive evil,

and I feel that this is evil.

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