All language subtitles for 2sdfwrfgsdfgfr

[grim music]

Well over
a million american children

Disappear from their homes
or neighborhoods every year.

[mike] the president
had mentioned jonelle matthews.

But they were exactly at
the same place they were

At the start of the search.

[male reporter] the absolute
mystery about her disappearance

Remains unsolved.

I felt that she was taken.
There was absolutely nothing.

I wasn't a part of this.
I don't know what happened.

[mike] other than
raking in the snow,

They really didn't have
any evidence

That she'd been kidnapped.

Oh, I absolutely thought
he was acting strange.

Why was the car on fire?

His control grew and grew.

It wasn't safe.

[police radio chatter]

[siren wails]

[robert] jonelle matthews
disappeared on

December 20th of 1984.

[jim on phone] hi, robert.
This is jim matthews.

[robert] jim and gloria,

I need to tell you guys
before, uh,

Any social media got to ya...

For decades, a monster

Tapped on the shoulder
of law enforcement

Because he couldn't help
but to do it.

I'll never forget this.

[siren wails]

[female reporter] this area's
about 30 minutes away

From her family's home
in greeley.

Greeley police
and the other agencies involved

Have been keeping
very tight lipped about it.

[robert] it took
more than three decades,

But we found her.

[suspenseful music]

[jennifer]
thirty years had passed

When I had got a phone call
from my friend robert cash.

He was assigned jonelle's case.

Rob and I have known
each other since ninth grade.

Was I expecting much?
Not really.

But go ahead,
pursue it, you know?

Maybe he'd uncover something.

I still had her
on my mind daily, nightly.

It just never goes away.

[jim] we knew that there
was a distinct possibility

We would go to our graves
not knowing what happened.

[jennifer] she just remained
an unsolved mystery.

[robert] the matthews case
rings in the halls

Of the greeley
police department.

It's unrivaled.

There's kind of a fantasy
about being able to solve

A case like this,

Particularly since
you knew the family.

Failure wasn't an option.

I never let myself fear failure.

[tense music]

[angela] we were
living south of ketchum

Here in idaho.

My marriage with
steve was awful.

The coercive control
was always there.

The physical abuse
was more random

And it wasn't all the time.

I was working cleaning houses.

We were renting a house
from one of my clients.

I was at work one day.

I expected my paycheck
to be there, and it wasn't.

So I asked her about it.

And she said, "you have a lot of
nerve asking for your paycheck

When you guys
haven't paid your rent."

So when I went home,
I said to steve,

"steve, I didn't get my check

Because she said that
our rent isn't paid."

And he said, "well, I had to
use the money for legal fees.

"police are persecuting me.

I won't tell them what they want
to know about jonelle matthews."

"jonelle matthews?"

That was the first time
jonelle matthews' name

Had come up in 10 years.

He turned kind of
halfway to me and said to me,

"do you really think
I would hurt her

When she looks
so much like you?"

There's an expression
that something makes

Your blood run cold,

But it's the only
time in my life

I've experienced it.

All those odd occurrences,

The quick trip to big bear,
the dogs being dumped,

The car being on fire,

The episode at church where
he's saying, "false prophet!"

In that moment, all that

Meant something different to me

Than it ever had before.

Something had happened
to this 12-year-old girl,

And he was acting like
he might've done something.

I had to figure out

If he had murdered
jonelle matthews.

[suspenseful music]

[mike] cash and I
had been working on

Jonelle's disappearance
for years.

This case was
chock full of oddities

And strange occurrences,
for sure.

To be blunt,
the investigation was a mess.

There were a lot of
missed opportunities.

Names and subjects,

They weren't necessarily
followed up on.

Two reports generated
by the lead detective

In January of 1985

Mentioned an individual
that was claiming to be a pastor

Named steve pankey.

He straight out said
that he knew

Jonelle was probably dead

And tried to
direct attention towards

The local nazarene church
here in greeley,

Where jonelle attended
services with her family.

And there's references to
a friend of jonelle's family,

Russell ross,
as a potential suspect.

But then several days later,

Pankey arrived at
the police department

And basically said, "disregard.
Don't worry about my lead."

[robert] there was
a lot of connection to

People involved in the church.

There was still
questions in my mind

Surrounding russ ross,

The last trusted adult
to have seen jonelle.

Given the fact that
the statements forming his alibi

Came from family members,

We couldn't entirely
eliminate him 100%.

There were times when I had

Fairly confrontational
interviews with him.

However,
that scrutiny led us, then,

To other people
who would become more important,

Much more important,
in the case.

[russ] robert cash,
basically he was going through

The whole scenario of

How things happened
in that night.

And he said, "the name
steve pankey sound familiar?"

And I go, "oh, wow."

[robert] he remembered steve.

There was some friction
between him and pankey at work.

[russ] he worked for me.

In the report
or something was that

I held him and beat him up
and that and so on.

Yeah, I don't know.

It was never
substantiated, I guess,

So I don't know
what that was all about.

It seemed to me
that russell ross felt awkward

Or uncomfortable
talking about steve pankey.

This fact fueled
my curiosity more

As far as the relationship
between the two

And what pankey himself
might tell me about russ ross.

[unsettling music]

[dial tone]

[dialing touchtone phone]

[line trilling]

[music intensifies]

[unsettling music]

He was cagey, guarded,
making these odd comments.

Why would you need a deal,
steve?

Um, I'm, I'm curious
about your relationship

With russell ross.

I was really scared then,

That my intuition
or that my feelings about it

Were right.

[unsettling music]

[angela] I started
watching for clues.

It became like a quest for me.

Is there any more pieces
to this puzzle that I can gather

Or that I can find?

Steve had mountains
and mountains of paperwork.

He was suing a lot of people.
A lot of people were suing him.

So this is something
I found on top of steve's desk

After I kind of
started watching for things.

So this one says,
"pastoral privilege, jonelle.

Jonelle dead before crossing
10th street and greeley."

That speaks volumes to me.

I mean, he names
the very street that we live on.

The next thing that I found,

A yellow legal file
torn into pieces.

I could see on one of
the piece of papers

That it said "jonelle matthews."

So I put that piece
of paper back together.

And on that document, it said,

"the snow outside
the matthews home was raked."

And how would you know that
unless you were there?

Steve couldn't find out
that I saw it and copied it.

I laid out towels.

I laid the documents
in the towels.

I took the insert out
of the tongue of my tennis shoe

And then just walked out
of the house with them

As bags of laundry
taking back to clients.

And then I took
all the copies to the police.

I talked to cam daggett first,

Who was the sun valley
police chief.

I told him about everything

That had happened
in '84 and '85,

About the comments
that steve said.

And they said, "you've
just gotta figure out a way

To get out of this."

I agreed to send
all this documentation

To the greeley police,
who's handling the case

In greeley, colorado
so that it can go forward.

He said, "I'm gonna be praying.
I know you're praying.

And we'll leave this
in god's hands."

For a long time,

I was waiting for
the police to contact me.

And that never happened.

[unsettling music]

[angela] I was
still living with him,

Trying to figure out
how am I gonna get out of this.

I just didn't see
any safe choices,

And he had made so many threats.

It took me a while.

But in my mind,
I was like, "that's it."

I went and started
trying to talk to attorneys.

All the attorneys I was
talking to were saying,

You know, "we've represented
somebody suing him,

So we can't help you."

I mean, this was just attorney
after attorney after attorney.

Finally I found an attorney

Who hadn't had
any dealings with him.

And I was able to get
the divorce in motion.

Me and the two boys,
we got a civil protection order

So that steve
couldn't come around us.

You know that expression,

"keep your friends close
and your enemies closer"?

I decided that would
be the best way

To approach
my relationship with steve.

As far as I knew, he didn't know
that I had talked to the police.

I thought if something slipped
and he found out,

I knew that he would kill me.

[steve] hello,
this is steve pankey.

I'm in front of
the idaho governor's office.

I just filed for candidacy

As a republican candidate for
governor of the state of idaho.

[angela]
one day, to my surprise,

I saw steve
campaigning for governor.

So together, we can make a safe,
prosperous, and moral idaho.

I'm just shocked.

This is steve pankey.
Steve pankey.

Your republican--
republican--

Idaho--
idaho governor.

If you're young
and beautiful, 18,

And this is
your first time voting,

I welcome your vote.

If you're young and ugly,
I welcome your vote.

The pankey family
had always had a trust.

After we were divorced,

Steve spent over $300,000
of his inheritance

To run for governor of idaho.

Steve's dad was a
baptist preacher,

Then a judge,
who invested heavily

In california real estate.

His great-grandfather
had been the governor...

I believe of arizona.

So steve had this air that
that's what he planned to be.

But I didn't think
he had a chance of winning.

Pankeyforidaho.Com.

Feel free to donate
the big bucks.

[angela] it just made me
sick to my stomach.

He's out there acting like
he's this big shot,

And she didn't
even have a chance

To see her 13th birthday
and, you know, have her life.

[unsettling music]

[angela] after 20 years,

I just felt like there
was nothing I could do.

I tried to do something,
and that didn't work.

[line trilling]

It was a lot of waiting
and a lot of years.

[line trilling]

All these years later?
Seriously, now?

This is the longest
I've ever waited for a callback.

There was kind of
a pause or a silence.

I had absolutely no idea
what she was talking about.

What the hell
happened to that file?

After everything
I went through,

And the greeley
police department

Doesn't have the file?

No one had done anything.

I was a bit put off.

[cacophony of voices]

[robert] I was
completely surprised.

So I asked her kind of,
"well, what can you tell me?"

[unnerving music]

[angela]
detective cash, I would say,

Knows more about my life,
my marriage with steve,

Than anybody in the whole world.

He heard it all.

My whole story.

[steve] together,
we can make a safe,

Prosperous, and moral idaho.

Angela hicks had
so much information to give.

I had several
conversations with her

Over the next few months.

She would bring copies
of the things

That she had found in the house.

Notes, legal briefs,
important writings.

Angela would talk about
his statements to her

That made her blood run cold.

The trip to california
and dumping the dogs.

The interesting fire suddenly.

His behaviors,
his running for political office

For governor of idaho,

How she suffered abuse
at the hands of steve pankey,

Physical, emotional.

But the biggest development,
I would say,

Is angela
had notations summarizing

A conversation
she had with steve pankey

About shoe impressions that
had been raked out of the snow

Surrounding the matthews house.

[dramatic music]

[mike]
my blood pressure rose.

I'm like, "oh my god, steve
knew the holdback information."

The general public never,
ever had any idea

About the raking in the snow.

Yet angela is making notes
in '99

That pankey knew
about those rakings.

[robert] knowing
this was monumental.

I had to sit back in my chair.

Steve pankey would've been
the one who was at the house

December 20th of 1984.

I'm like, "ah, dude,
we are going to idaho.

We have to go see him."

But on July 24, 2019...

The phone rang.

[line trilling]

[gloria] the detectives
called us up.

[line trilling]

To be honest, we, uh...

I didn't want
to have that phone call.

[line trilling]
[sad music]

I...

I didn't want to find a body.

This is county road
40, 34 and a half.

"the road to nowhere,"
is what we called it.

-Over here, right?
-Yeah.

An oil exploration crew
had dug up

What they believed
were unidentified remains.

I walked up to the remains
and saw that the skull

Had a penetrating gunshot wound
through the forehead.

When I saw the braces,

I knew...

That we had found
jonelle matthews.

[male reporter 1] this is a case
the greeley police department

Has been working to solve
for more than 30 years.

[male reporter 2] police say
they've found the skull

Belonging to
a missing 12-year-old

At an oil and gas site
in weld county.

[robert] it was like
a slow-moving car crash.

You know, filled with anxiety,
with apprehension,

Desire for it to actually be
something positive in the case.

[female reporter] this area
where jonelle's body was found

Is about 30 minutes away from
her family's home in greeley.

Greeley police
and the other agencies involved

Have been keeping
very tight lipped about it.

[jim] to get a phone call
35 years after it happened

Was absolutely earthshaking.

This has been something
we have been waiting for.

This was closure.

[male reporter]
jonelle matthews

Was 12 years old
when she went missing.

Today, she'd be in her mid-40's.

Never in my life...

Did I think of
that she was shot in the head,

And how afraid she was.

[mike] I was angry that somebody
could do such a thing to her.

The bullet, because
it was at a downward trajectory,

In my opinion,
she was on her knees,

Looking up at the
individual that shot her.

I wanted to find
who that person was.

And so we hit the road,
robert and I,

To drive out and see pankey.

[unsettling music]

[robert] mike prill and I
made the nine-hour trip to idaho

To attempt to contact
steve pankey.

Arriving up in idaho,

Steve pankey
answered the intercom.

[steve] hello?

He couldn't believe that
we were at his front doorstep.

[laughs]

We never alluded
that we were there

To treat him as a suspect
and that he was being charged.

I explained to him that for him
to get the deal he was seeking,

It would have to be
a deal for a crime

That I could arrest him for.

[mike] retorts, "I need a deal."

He's just told me,
without saying it directly,

I murdered jonelle,

And I'm not gonna
talk to you without a deal

Because that's a crime from 1984

That you could
still arrest me for.

[mike] when I got into
our car, I told robert,

"that's our guy.
That is definitely our dude."

[robert] we both felt
that we had the guy.

The sense was
that we had the guy.

We now needed to prove it.

[tense music]

[robert] we consulted with
the district attorney's office.

Their response was,
"we need more."

I get a phone call,
and I'm thinking to myself,

"I can't believe
what I'm hearing."

This is as big as it gets.

Fortunately at that point
there was enough evidence

That we could write a warrant
to get into pankey's house.

[suspenseful music]

Police department.
Search warrant.

The same "steve pankey"
meant nothing to anybody.

Police, search warrant!

But all of a sudden,

When you're talking
about somebody

Who's running for the governor,

It's like you've taken

Two complete,
irrelevant concepts

And smashed them
together in one person.

That's what it felt like,
is he's an enigma.

Is he a criminal?
Is he a witness?

Who is he?

[mike] the tactical team
hit pankey's house.

But pankey was not at home.

He had no couches,
no televisions, no radios.

He had a picture
of himself from his--

Perhaps his high school years
hanging on the wall.

He had three cell phones
and two laptops.

And then he had
a very expensive,

Brand-new gun safe.

It was almost like he was living
in his own self-imposed prison.

[robert] we seized
14 or so handguns,

Numerous cell phones,
and laptop computers.

[unsettling music]

[michael] results of
the search warrants

Of his computers
was an utter goldmine.

He would search for
jonelle thousands of times.

And it became very clear that

Once he learned
jonelle's remains were found,

He was up on his computer
for the better part of 36 hours.

He never went to sleep.

[mike] I took a deep dive
into pankey's life in colorado.

Robert would be tasked with
locating cases filed against

Pankey throughout idaho during
the years that he lived there.

And we started amassing
police reports

And court documents.

[robert] I'm reaching out
to various records departments,

Getting documents
from legal actions

That he's involved with.

In the 1990s, he would make

Exceedingly
incriminating statements

Saying that he is
a master manipulator.

[michael] he's writing things
to the idaho supreme court

Believing that he would
receive the death penalty

In exchange for providing
information about jonelle.

Who says that?

[mike] in his many,
many case files,

He was so amazingly slick

That he controlled both
the courts and law enforcement

With the use of his pen
and his own personality.

[michael] we got one
particular report from idaho.

A police officer
was on a traffic stop.

And he starts videotaping
the police stop.

She confronts him,
tells him to step away.

And he starts talking and saying

That he's buried more bodies
than she could possibly imagine.

She stops and says,
"oh yeah? Where?"

"well, in colorado."

This is back in the late '90s,
long before pankey's ever on

Anybody in colorado's
radar screen.

[robert] for decades,

A monster tapped on the shoulder
of law enforcement

Because he couldn't help
but to do it.

To get the attention that
he thought that he deserved.

This was part of what he does.
This is part of steve pankey.

[michael] we were
sitting in our office.

And one day, detective cash
comes over and says,

"you're not gonna believe this."

[male interviewer]
so steve, why don't we

Just start from the beginning?

Steve pankey was
going on a media crusade.

Prill gets right in my face
and he starts spitting.

Like, he says,
"steve, I need to talk to you."

[michael] we looked
at each other and said,

"what in the world is he doing?
Why is he doing this?"

[steve] it's not like
I don't have compassion.

It wasn't until my wife and I

And our five-year-old
returned from california.

[angela] all of a sudden,
you could put in the name

"steve pankey"
in a search engine,

And it would just
have link after link

To either a newspaper article,
a television interview,

A radio interview,
a podcast interview.

I'm a true crime/
missing persons podcaster.

I've covered 317 disappearances.

Steve contacted me
to tell the world

About why he was innocent

And did not kill
jonelle matthews.

That was a first.

[upbeat music]

Always friendly.
Always gracious.

What steve has done over the
last 35 years is not unusual.

I have many disappearances
where there are steve pankeys.

People who take
an unusual interest

In a disappearance or a murder.

He's a strange cat.

[ed] I came away thinking...

I have doubts whether
steve pankey killed jonelle.

[robert]
the three-decade mystery

Of who had taken
jonelle matthews was over.

We'd taken the correct steps
to end this nightmare

That had been going on for,
at that time, 38 years.

[knocking on door]

[police officer 1] contact.

[police officer 2]
would you come outside, please?

We need to talk to you, steven.

[police officer 1] steve, we
have a warrant for your arrest.

[michael] it is with great honor
today that we announce

That the grand jury
indicted an individual

Named steven dana pankey

For the kidnapping
and murder of jonelle matthews.

Can I get my phone?

[female reporter] steve pankey
was once a candidate

For governor of idaho.

And now he's charged
with killing a girl

Who vanished 36 years ago.

[michael] please understand
that while he has been indicted,

That he is still
presumed innocent,

Unless and until
these charges are proven

Beyond a reasonable doubt
in a court of law.

[mike] the second thing
that should never have happened

Just happened.

Now, not only has jonelle
actually been found,

We just arrested somebody.

[male reporter] steve pankey
was arrested at his home

In meridian, idaho,

Facing charges of first degree
murder and kidnapping.

[female reporter] pankey
is being held without bond

At the ada county jail
in boise, idaho

And is waiting
extradition to colorado.

We had never heard
the name before.

Why would a person
like him wanna do this jonelle,

Spend the time and
the effort to run for governor?

To me, there's
no stereotype for a killer.

[gloria] why he would pick her?

I don't know.

[angela] it was kind
of a high-low feeling.

On the one hand, like,

"oh my god, I was right!
I was right!"

And on the other hand,
it was like,

"oh my god, I was right.
I was right."

[somber music]

[male reporter]
jim and gloria matthews

Sat in a weld county courtroom

As steve pankey
pleaded not guilty.

Steve pankey has been
getting off for 37 years

For murdering my sister.

The hands of justice
were moving for us, for jonelle.

[gloria] I hardly even
looked at him in the courtroom.

I didn't care anymore.
I just wanted him guilty.

[michael] your goal
since December 20th of 1984

Has been self-preservation.
Would you agree?

Not necessarily.

In the courtroom,
he was cagey, guarded,

Demanding a deal.

[michael] you're asking
for immunity, demanding it,

For murder and kidnapping

Before you'll say anything
about jonelle matthews, right?

You don't know
what's in my head.

It was him continuing
to gaslight the public,

To manipulate
what was happening.

[michael] you were probably
the first person on the planet

To assert she was deceased.
You know that?

That's not true.

[ed] so I knew there
was going to be a trial.

I didn't know
I was going to be part of it.

[steve] in 1977,
I was a youth pastor

At sunny view church
of the nazarene.

[ed] they chose to
play the podcast.

The goal was to show
that steve had told

Contradicting stories
over the last 38 years.

However, lying to me
is not a precursor

To somebody being a murderer.

Never could prove
that he knew the family.

Never could prove that
he owned a gun of that caliber

That was used to jonelle.

Had they even been able to prove

That steve was on
that street even that day?

They couldn't even do that.

[lacy] so this was
my first homicide trial.

At the first meeting,
it was like,

"are we sure
we have the right guy?"

Juries today expect dna.

[michael]
the biggest problem we had

Is the inability
to forensically link pankey

Either to the matthews home,

To the location where
jonelle's body was found.

We couldn't do it through dna.

The reality is
it's fragile evidence

When it lays in
soft sand soil for 36 years.

So there was
no expectation of recovering

Any forensic evidence.

[lacy] how do
we explain this to a jury?

How do we explain
almost a 40-year investigation

And make it simple
that a layperson

Who's looking at this from
the outside can understand it?

[mike] we had
overwhelming amounts

Of circumstantial evidence.

During the search of his home,

I encountered a copy of
a book that pankey authored

Entitled "graveyards."

It's a story about an
individual named david darkson

That has a falling-out with
the nazarene church in greeley

And all the long has
an incredible grudge

Towards a woman named deb moon.

As I'm reading
this book, I realize

Everything was essentially true,

And david darkson is pankey.

In 1977, deb moon,

A college student
attending the nazarene church,

Files a sexual assault complaint
against pankey.

[lacy] michael rourke
and I called her,

And miss moon told us that

She was the jonelle matthews
that got away.

She said pankey drove
miss moon out into the country

In weld county

And he raped her for four hours.

The weld county district
attorney's office

Filed charges on him.

It was a male prosecutor.

And told her this is
a he said versus she said.

And the charges were dropped.

His name ended up
in the newspaper,

And he got excommunicated
from sunny view nazarene church.

And then he starts
spiraling in hatred,

Having members
physically pick him up

Out of the congregation
and forcibly remove him.

The testimony
about deb moon's case

We could not use in the trial.

The concern there is
that the jury

Would misuse
the information and say,

Well, if he raped miss moon,

Then he had to have kidnapped
and murdered jonelle.

But we found his motive.

He was angry and
stalking members of the church.

And deb moon was
the source of this hatred.

[michael]
you told us that you began

A very bitter relationship with

Sunny view church
of the nazarene,

Russ ross.

Because you hated those men?

Yes, sir.

[lacy] detective cash told us

Mr. Pankey had
a vendetta to get after the man

By the name russell ross.

Turns out that he was
part of the same congregation.

Russell ross happened
to drive jonelle matthews home

The night of December 20, 1984.

And he was also
pankey's former boss

And part of a lawsuit that
mr. Pankey had engaged in.

[michael] we had documented
evidence to show

That pankey had made efforts
to harass and follow russ ross.

He coupled
the hatred of the church

With the hatred of russ ross,

And we had our belief
that pankey

Was following
russ ross the night

That he dropped jonelle matthews
off at her home.

[robert] there was
no doubt in our mind

That that evening,
steve pankey

Followed russ ross,

Saw that jonelle
walked into a dark house.

He knew that that
moment was his opportunity

To take revenge on everybody
who had wronged him.

[angela]
I was subpoenaed to testify.

It was so frightening.

And I knew that he was gonna be
right there in the courtroom.

[male reporter]
the ex-wife of a man accused of

Murdering a 12-year-old girl
decades ago took the stand,

And she remembered the time
her husband, steve pankey,

Brought up jonelle matthews.

[angela] I had been told,

"you can't make any kind
of prejudicial statements.

"make your statements
as brief as possible,

Five words or less, if you can."

[lacy] we had to have
the conversation with angela

That the judge
had restricted her testimony

To a sanitized fashion.

"the jury will not hear about
any physical acts of violence

Mr. Pankey perpetrated
against you"

Because it was
overly prejudicial.

[angela] I felt like I had to
give people enough information

So they understand
what happened,

But I didn't feel like
I was able to do that.

Steve says,
"don't worry about the dogs.

I dumped the dogs.
Get us ready to go."

All the da's
and the detectives said,

"oh, you did so well!
You did so well!

You did such a good job!"

And all I could think
was, "I just sucked."

I just didn't leave
with a good feeling.

[michael] at the conclusion
of that trial, we felt good.

We felt like we had
presented to that jury

A complete picture,

Almost a 200-page document
that served as a summary

Of the entire investigation.

When you put that together

And you spend the time
to read it from start to finish,

It reads as,
you got the right guy.

[train rumbling]
[bell dinging]

[train whistle]

[jennifer] I was
a little bit undecided about

Steve pankey's guilt,

Just listening to
what was presented in the trial.

Anticipating was daunting.

[michael] we got a note
from the jury to the judge.

And it says, "we don't believe

We're gonna be able to
reach a unanimous verdict."

[male reporter]
we go to weld county,

Where a jury
is split on what happened

To young jonelle matthews.

[female reporter]
the jury couldn't agree

If steve pankey
is innocent or guilty

In her kidnapping and murder.

This morning, a judge declared
a mistrial in the case.

[jennifer] I didn't know
exactly what that meant.

You might think
it's so blatantly obvious,

But you don't know what
12 other people are thinking.

Our family has to wait again
for justice for jonelle.

[gloria] I was so disappointed.

22,000 pages of
testimonies, documents,

And it all didn't mean anything
because three of the jurors said

That we couldn't prove
that he was on the premises.

What else can we do?

No way we were gonna give up.

And I told the matthews family
right away

That there's no question
in our minds we'll be back.

But this was gonna be
a massive undertaking.

Within two hours,
prill's writing a to-do list,

Things that happened
during the course of his trial

That we think
had opened doors to

Other pieces of information,
other evidence,

Other witnesses that
we couldn't call the first time.

Pankey opened the doors
for us when he testified.

That was significant.

[robert] we knew that there
was a lot of things in this case

That had to with steve.
We couldn't get into it.

We couldn't talk about deb moon

And the domestic abuse
towards angela hicks.

But if the defense
opens the door

To a piece of evidence
that has to do with

Something that
we can't provide--

If they open
the door to something,

Then we can...

We can start talking about it.

I never imagined
that she would say

All the things
that she said about me.

In the first trial,
mr. Pankey painted angela

As a vindictive,
bitter, scorned woman.

[michael] any other
reason you can think of

That she would get on the stand

And lie about something
that happened 37 years ago?

A woman scorned.
That's all I know.

[lacy] he taunted us
with what we knew

And didn't have
a court order to get into.

But him painting her
as a scorned woman

Allowed us to explain
the psychological abuse

That she had endured through
her marriage with pankey.

[michael] this elaborate lie
that you have talked about

Is to get back at russ ross,

Sunny view church
of the nazarene,

And the greeley
police department.

That's partially right.

When mr. Pankey testified,

He told us as much
on the stand himself,

In his own words,

That everything about
jonelle stems from deb moon.

[michael] are you trying
to get back at anybody else?

That's part of
the protected stuff.

[michael] excuse me?
What protected stuff?

The stuff that's--
the judge ruled on.

[lacy] he talked about it being
pure hatred with the church,

And that it all stems from 1977,
but that's the protected stuff,

And you're not
allowed to go there.

And finally it allowed us
to at least argue

That deb moon's
instance was connected with

Jonelle's disappearance.

At that point,
we had the judge's blessing

To bring in miss moon.

And she said yes.

[mike] most importantly,

I knew all along

That pankey
had filed a complaint

Against the greeley
police department in 1985.

And made a statement
that he knows specifically

That two cops lived on
the same street as jonelle.

So for pankey
to know that any cop,

Let alone two cops,
lived on the same street,

He would've had to conduct
his own private surveillance.

But in his podcast
and his other interviews,

He would assert that he had
never been in that neighborhood

And really didn't even know
where it was at.

But we couldn't use
that in the first trial

Because the perceiving
witness is dead.

But between
the first and second trial,

Angela found yet
more writings by him

With a whole different story.

[angela] I had kept
all of this documentation

That I provided to the
sun valley police in the '90s.

And I could see on
one of the piece of papers,

It said, "two cops living within
a block of jonelle matthews."

[mike] couldn't believe it
when I saw it.

I called rob and I'm like,
"dude, you have to hear this."

And I could hear him
jumping up and down

On the other end of the line.

Like, we finally get to
introduce this evidence.

And it's coming in
through pankey.

He wrote it!

So now we're able to tell a jury

That pankey
was conducting surveillance

In jonelle's neighborhood
before she passed away.

[female reporter]
thirty-eight years

Since a 12-year-old
girl in greeley

Was kidnapped and murder.

Today, the man accused
of killing jonelle matthews

Was back in court
for his second trial.

[male reporter]
jonelle matthews is a name

That we've heard in colorado
for decades now.

So once again, steve pankey
was in the courtroom

Listening on headphones

While county da
michael rourke argues

Pankey is guilty
based on things he said

And how he's acted
over the years.

[lazy] when deb testified,

She tells her story
very factually.

She's eloquent.

And she takes a moment,
and she turns around,

And she faces mr. Pankey.

And she looks him
dead in the eyes

Until he looks away first.

And I think that moment was

All the satisfaction
she needed out of this trial.

[dramatic music]

[lacy] but angela was essential.

We could not do
this without her.

[michael]
angela was our star witness.

There's no way that
we convict steve pankey

Without angela hicks.

This time, she wasn't muzzled

As much as
she was the first time.

[angela] all those
years I had to suppress

The story of
what I went through.

I had to go through
it all again.

It was like
a moment of reckoning to me.

I just said,
"god, I give this to you.

"please let there be
a resolution to this.

"please keep me safe.

And let there be
justice for jonelle."

[tense music]

[robert] it took
38 years for us to...

To find steve pankey.

But we found him
and we convicted him

For the murder of
jonelle matthews.

[female reporter]
nearly four decades

After a young girl disappeared,

A jury has convicted her killer.

[angela] I could just
feel my heart pounding.

And they said, "kidnapping
in the first degree, guilty."

And then, "murder, guilty."

[male reporter]
a master manipulator

Who murdered a 12-year-old
girl in cold blood.

A judge sentenced him
to life in prison.

I am a christian.

I will be in heaven.

I am innocent.

It was the best feeling ever.

Almost an instant release
of the last 38 years.

All the blood, sweat, and tears
that have gone into this.

After the verdict,
I talked to cash.

I just have nothing
but admiration for him,

For all the work
that he's done for our family,

What they all have.

[mike] it felt great.

Justice has
finally been meted out.

[michael]
when you hear "guilty"?

Are you kidding me?

On a case like that
that we worked on so hard...

It meant the world.

Um...

Relieved.

And proud.

It had been a long time coming.

[robert]
it flashed before my eyes,

First being tasked
with the case back in 2013

To all the work that was done,

The sticking to it,
not giving up ever.

I don't think I cried.
[laughs]

[bright, gentle music]

[robert] there are
monsters in this world...

...That will exist
only to hurt others.

I think it's important that

People listen to their
gut feeling about things.

Cases like this only exist
because of bad people.

[bright, gentle music]

Let me just leave it at that.

[jim] if jonelle
had been alive today,

I'm she would make us all proud.

We only had her for
a little less than 13 years.

But...She was an amazing child.

[jennifer] I feel
peace and know that

She is part of my story.

I had a sister.
Her name was jonelle.

[gloria] I think both
jim and I, at the very end,

Don't care whether
we have all the answers or not.

So many of
my christian friends say

That I have to forgive him.

But I can't.

Sp was going to go

For the rest of his life...

Behind bars.

And I, I like that.

[bright, gentle music]

[angela] having someone
treat you this way

For a long period of time,

It just forever
distorts your trust

And your perception
of everything.

But for the first time in
a long time, I feel safe.

[jennifer] angela took
her life in her hands.

We owe all of this to angela.

Her pursuit for
justice for jonelle

Is why we are here.

[bright, gentle music]

[bright, gentle music]