Lyons said Pankey was interested in giving information about Jonelle in return for information about the investigation. Lyons never saw the report the police department wrote about the Pankey interview, but he confirmed he was never a suspect prior to 2019. Lyons conducted hundreds of interviews for the case, including one with Pankey in 1985, according to his testimony. Witness John Lyons, a Former FBI special agent in Fort Collins, hopped on this case due to his close working relationship with the Greeley Police Department and the suspicious nature of Jonelle’s disappearance. Pankey would often use his “pastor title” to say he had information about the case, but was unable to tell authorities due to confidentiality obligations as a pastor. Prosecutors also addressed Baxley in regards to Pankey’s statements about being a pastor on multiple occasions, which is false information, according to multiple sources.
#Clearview pool trial
The Idaho man, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews in 1984, stands trial on murder charges almost four decades after the girl disappeared from her Greeley home. GREELEY, CO – OCTOBER 13: Murder suspect Steven Pankey, right, sits with his defense attorney Anthony Viorst, left, as they listen to opening arguments and testimony in his trial on day one in Weld County District Court on Octoin Greeley, Colorado. Viorst implied Baxley’s accounts could be unreliable due to his never being asked about the color of Pankey’s vehicle until 47 years later and the reports Baxley’s daughter gave him about the vehicle’s color the night Jonelle disappeared. That was the last time he saw Pankey, who eventually stopped attending the church before the Matthews family began attending. The first incident was verbal, but the second time, he had to physically be removed from the property.Ī group of men took him to the parking lot to his European style, orange-red car, according to Baxley. Less than six months later, Pankey was fired from the position, but that didn’t stop him from attending the church as a member.īaxley testified Pankey was asked to leave the church on several occasions following his termination. In the early 70s, Baxley said Pankey was an attendee of the church, who later became a janitor and lived in the house located on the church’s property. Baxley was a family friend to the Matthews and a property manager of the Nazarene church they attended. The orange-red car became relevant later on during the trial when Davy’s father, Russel Baxley, took the stand. As a 12-year-old girl, Davy didn’t recall making those statements to an officer, she said. The report did state Davy talked about incidents where Jonelle shared her hatred for her adoptive parents and how she wanted to find her birth mother, Viorst said. However, Viorst said the police report had no indication of the car. 21 and said she remembered telling the officer about the vehicle that frightened Jonelle. The conversation on the drive home moved away from the car, but once Davy was aware of Jonelle’s disappearance, the car became vivid in her memory once again.ĭavy told prosecutors she went to give a statement at the Greeley Police Department on Dec. Jonelle in particular seemed startled and agitated about this car, according to Davy’s testimony. She described the vehicle as a smaller, orange-red car. Davy said the bus was parked outside of the bank on 11th Street facing west, when a car drove past the left side of the bus that “caught their attention.” The two friends were sitting on the bus together during their ride back to Franklin Middle School from the choir concert they sang in on Dec. On Thursday morning, Jonelle’s friend from church, Rochelle Davy, formerly known as Rochelle Baxley, took the stand with information relating to a car on the night Jonelle disappeared. The second day of trial focused on 13 witness testimonies including Mayor John Gates, then a Greeley police officer, a neighbor, officers involved in the investigation and a former FBI agent. Kerns addresses the jury before opening arguments and testimony on day one of the Steven Pankey trial in Weld County District Court on Octoin Greeley, Colorado. GREELEY, CO – OCTOBER 13: Judge Timothy G. Viorst said Pankey is innocent, and the real suspect was Norris Drake, the son of Jonelle’s neighbor. Defense attorney Anthony Viorst fired back with arguments against what he said was misleading circumstantial evidence against Pankey, a lack of motive on Pankey’s part and his Asperger’s condition impacting his obsessive behavior.