406: The Girl on the Milk Carton

Summary

True Crime Obsessed Episode 406: The Girl on the Milk Carton

Release Date: December 10, 2024

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Introduction to the Case

In Episode 406 of True Crime Obsessed, titled "The Girl on the Milk Carton," hosts Kristin and Patrick delve deep into the harrowing true story of Janelle Matthews, a young girl whose disappearance in 1984 shook the quiet town of Greeley, Colorado. Combining true crime analysis with their signature humor and heartfelt commentary, the hosts guide listeners through the intricate details and emotional turmoil surrounding the case.

---

The Disappearance of Janelle Matthews

December 20, 1984 marked a turning point for Greeley, a town previously known for its tranquility. On this day, Janelle Matthews vanished from her home under perplexing circumstances.

• Kristin (02:04): "It’s a wild ride."

Janelle, a spirited and active 13-year-old, reportedly disappeared without a trace five days before Christmas. There were no signs of forced entry or struggle, leading authorities to suspect a kidnapping.

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Family and Community Impact

Janelle's disappearance had a profound effect on her family and the wider community. Her sister, Jennifer, shared poignant memories that highlighted the close-knit nature of their family.

• Jennifer Matthews (03:13): "Nobody does that anymore."

The family dynamics were further strained by Janelle's mother, Gloria, who traveled to Los Angeles to surprise her parents for Christmas, leaving the children under the care of Jim, Janelle's father. This situation created an environment ripe for distress and uncertainty.

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Investigation and Suspects

The initial investigation by the Greeley Police Department focused on eliminating potential suspects. Early theories considered whether Janelle might have run away, but these were quickly dismissed.

• Detective Mike Prill (18:53): "There were shoe prints in the snow in the backyard that appeared to have been raked out. As far as Jim could tell, they were not his."

Key evidence included shoe prints that appeared to have been tampered with, suggesting an attempt to conceal the perpetrator's identity. Suspicion began to fall on individuals connected to the family, particularly Jim, the father, due to his unique position and knowledge of the family's routine.

---

The Role of Steve Panky

A central figure in the case is Steve Panky, an enigmatic and former candidate for governor of Idaho. His involvement added layers of complexity and intrigue to the investigation.

• Patrick (27:36): "The minute you turn, it should be something else."

Steve's behavior, including a puzzling phone call claiming someone confessed to Janelle's murder, raised suspicions. However, his credibility was initially undermined when he retracted his statement, leaving law enforcement uncertain of his true intentions.

• Steve Panky (27:02): "I'm just gonna let you know that I know, but I can't give you any more information."

As the years passed, Steve's actions grew increasingly erratic, culminating in abusive behavior towards his wife, Angela. His mounting legal troubles and eventual gubernatorial run in Idaho further complicated the case, intertwining personal vendettas with the ongoing investigation.

---

Family Secrets and Revelations

Angela, Steve's wife, played a critical role in unraveling the mystery of Janelle's disappearance. Her experiences of domestic abuse and eventual discovery of incriminating evidence shed light on Steve's potential motives and actions.

• Angela Hicks (76:38): "So I put that piece of paper back together, and on that document, it said the snow outside the Matthews home was raped."

Angela's courage in confronting her past and cooperating with law enforcement was instrumental in bringing the truth to light, despite years of fear and suppression of vital information.

---

Resolution of the Case

After decades of investigation marked by missed opportunities and evolving theories, Detective Robert Cash re-opened the case in 2019. His relentless pursuit of justice, combined with new evidence and testimonies, led to the final unraveling of the mystery.

• Detective Robert Cash (51:35): "This investigation has been a mess from day one."

Steve Panky's eventual arrest and conviction in 2020 for the kidnapping and murder of Janelle Matthews provided closure to a case that had haunted the community for over three decades.

---

Conclusion and Impact

The case of Janelle Matthews serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring quest for justice and the profound impact of unwavering determination. The Matthews family's resilience, combined with the dedication of investigators like Detective Cash, ultimately ensured that Janelle's story was heard and justice was served.

• Patrick (76:42): "And Angela, again, like, all these women. Oh, my God. Angela says, like, for the first time, she finally feels safe because what Angela did, Angela took her life in her hands."

True Crime Obsessed not only recounts a chilling true crime story but also celebrates the strength and perseverance of those who refuse to let tragedy go unresolved.

---

Notable Quotes

• Kristin (04:06): "Whenever something like this happens around the holidays or a. It's just the way, like, can we have one nice thing to look forward to every year? Absolutely not."

• Patrick (12:08): "Dad of the year."

• Angela Hicks (21:28): "We were just talking about Christmas break, exchanging gifts, maybe. Talking about boys."

• Steve Panky (27:11): "Yeah."

• Detective Mike Prill (19:22): "The footprint had been raked out. Someone tried to destroy the prints."

---

Reflection and Final Thoughts

"The Girl on the Milk Carton" episode of True Crime Obsessed masterfully blends factual recounting with insightful commentary, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of Janelle Matthews' tragic story. Through detailed exploration and emotional narratives, Kristin and Patrick honor the memory of Janelle while highlighting the relentless pursuit of truth and justice.

---

Note: Timecodes correspond to the provided transcript and are indicative of when significant statements were made during the episode.

Transcript

[Kristin]

Girl, we just recorded our ads and it is very clear to me that my eyes are going, oh, no. I'm enlarging everything to like 50% bigger than they sent it to us.

[Patrick]

You know what? You have options. I know we're solving problems.

[Kristin]

It's true. Even my notes for this are an 18 point font. That's where I start.

[Patrick]

No, but for this, it's different, Right?

[Kristin]

Cause you gotta be able to read it on the fly. We're gonna do it fast.

[Patrick]

We're flying by and we're pissed. Today. I do.

[Kristin]

Oh, my God. Yeah.

[Angela]

Hi.

[Kristin]

Julian Pettiballi.

[Patrick]

Hey. Patrick Hines.

[Kristin]

Girl, do you wanna tell them that tis the season to be gifting and if they feel like it, they can give the gift of Patreon.

[Patrick]

Yeah, but you said you can give the gift of Patreon. It's really easy. Now we're gonna link this in our show notes, but there's also a direct link you can go to, which is.

[Kristin]

Yeah, it's patreon.com truecrimeobsessed gift Once again, gift.

[Patrick]

It's no sift.

[Kristin]

No s. It's in the show notes. We'll pin it in the Facebook group too, if you want to. This is a thing that you all have been asking for years. A way to, like, gift a Patreon subscription. You can do it for a month, for three months, for a year. It's up to you. It's all there. It's super easy. And what a lovely thing to do. And one other thing we gotta tell them. What if you're on the Patreon or you wanna join the Patreon? This is the month that we send the calendars out to the hero bell tier. So there are 12 original designs by this amazing. They're like caricatures by this amazing Broadway artist. His name is Squiggs. He's so famous, he does them for every Broadway show. And he does them for us too.

[Patrick]

I know, it's amazing. It's such an honor to get like a Squiggs original. And then. Yeah, so it's. Every month is like a nice little fun, hilarious, tco.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

Themed thing.

[Kristin]

Right. Every year for the last few years, we've had Squigs make us this calendar. We send it out. If you're on the hero belts here, you're getting the calendar.

[Patrick]

Yes.

[Kristin]

If you upgrade to the hero belts here while supplies last, we will send you a calendar. And like, we've got plenty. So upgrade if you want to.

[Patrick]

In the month of December.

[Kristin]

In the month of December. And, like, into January, Steve says if we have stuff left over, because beyond that, you won't want it because you'll already have your calendar year.

[Patrick]

Yeah, that's true. That's true.

[Kristin]

But anyway, it's the hereabouts year. Go get it if you want it.

[Patrick]

Great girl.

[Kristin]

What are we talking about?

[Patrick]

Today we are doing the Girl on the Milk Carton on Peacock. It's two episodes. We're doing it in one episode, and.

[Kristin]

It'S a wild ride.

[Patrick]

It is Jonelle Matthews of Greeley, Colorado.

[Detective]

Five days before Christmas, disappeared from her home.

[Patrick]

Greeley was a sleepy little town until December 1984.

[Detective]

No forced entry, no signs of struggle. She's vanished. It's believed she's the victim of a kidnapping.

[Angela]

She was one of the first ones on the milk carton.

[Patrick]

Someone in Greeley knew something.

[Kristin]

A monster tapped on the shoulder of law enforcement because he couldn't help but to do it.

[Patrick]

Statements made by Pinkey made him a person of interest.

[Kristin]

The former candidate for governor of Idaho. He's an enigma.

[Patrick]

Is he a criminal? Is he a witness?

[Kristin]

Who is he?

[Patrick]

I didn't know she existed until six days after the fact.

[Kristin]

I never let myself fear failure. Failure wasn't an option.

[Angela]

It was like a quest for me. I had to find out if he killed Janelle Matthews.

[Patrick]

You couldn't even vote believe something like that would happen. It affected people for decades. It still does.

[Kristin]

This is the case with Janelle Matthews. And right at the top, we meet her sister Jennifer. And Jennifer is driving us on the walk that Jonelle took to school every single day. She says it's a mile and a half each way. Nobody does that anymore.

[Patrick]

Yeah. We're in Greeley, Colorado, in the 80s. So she's kind of saying, this is what we used to do. And she's very aware, like, yeah, no one. No kid was walking a mile and.

[Kristin]

A half to school. That is what I mean. We walk six blocks to Daisy School every morning. I'm like, are we still doing this?

[Patrick]

I know. After my career in the marathon the next day, I was like, I. My legs hurt. I walked a lot.

[Kristin]

You had sympathy eggs from.

[Patrick]

That's exactly what it was. It was sympathy eggs. But, yeah, I'm assuming it's also, like, a group of kids. Everyone's, like, sort of picking each other up on the way.

[Kristin]

It's cold. It's cornfields. A mile and a half is a long way to go.

[Patrick]

Yeah. But we see the house they grew up in.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And she explains, you know, like, everything Was great. Everyone felt really safe until December 20, 1984. And this is always really bad, but, like, the added sadness and heaviness of the holidays in this story in particular.

[Kristin]

Listen, I think about that all the time. Whenever something like this happens around the holidays or a. It's just the way, like, can we have one nice thing to look forward to every year? Absolutely not.

[Patrick]

100%.

[Angela]

No.

[Kristin]

We don't deserve that, do we?

[Patrick]

No, we do. So let's. So Jim is Janelle's dad, and Gloria is her mom. And Janelle is. You know, she was three and a half years younger than Jennifer, who's here with us today. And we learned Janelle was the planner. My sister. She would be the life of our quiet family because she was the planner. As long as you are okay with what she had planned, come and join her.

[Kristin]

Jennifer, the sister says, as long as you were okay with what she was planning, come and join her. But hell hath no fury.

[Patrick]

That's right.

[Kristin]

If you didn't like what she was doing, you know what? You're on your own today. Too bad. Too bad. Get out of here.

[Patrick]

She's a party girl, but she just seems awesome.

[Kristin]

She just seems that, like, you know, her and Jennifer were really different. And I think that Jennifer feels some guilt about that now because she was saying that, like, Janelle was a big personality. She loved music, she loved rock and roll. She was fiery. She loved to perform. And Jennifer says, like, she got in my space, and I didn't really want that.

[Patrick]

Yeah. Jennifer says, like, she kind of wanted no part of that. And I. It's kind of. It's really refreshing. So, like, Jennifer, thank you for being so honest about it, because that shit happens all the time, and, like, it's real and it's okay. And you're not a bad sister, and you're not a bad person, but that is very real.

[Kristin]

I just. I loved hearing Sarah Attorney say in that documentary that she, like, forgives her younger self for feeling.

[Patrick]

Oh, yeah.

[Kristin]

You know, or at least like, she realizes now that her younger self doesn't need any forgiveness, you know? And I want to say to Jennifer, girl, like, let yourself off the hook. Like, you did nothing wrong. You were just being a sister. This has nothing to do with anything that you did.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And I don't want to assign Jennifer anything because she feels. She seems very. Like, she gets. Like, she's on our side. But it was just refreshing to hear, like, I kind of want to know part of her. And, like, we were just at that age and I think that is so real and just refreshing to hear. So it's December 20, 1984. Everyone was doing something different that night.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

So the mom, we learned, had not seen her parents in a couple of years. So the mom on the 20th is flying to LA to surprise her parents for Christmas. So she's spending Christmas away from her husband and kids to go be with her parents as a surprise.

[Patrick]

Now, Jim, the dad, Gloria, the mom, and Jennifer, the sister, are all here with us today.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So Gloria, the mom, at 5:00, she's flying out to visit her parents and surprise them for Christmas. Jennifer had a home basketball game that.

[Kristin]

Night, and Janelle had a concert. Janelle was in the honor choir at her middle school.

[Patrick]

And it was going to be held at what we call the United bank in town, because she was in the honor choir.

[Kristin]

I have the note. Be still my choir nerd heart. I tried so hard to be in choir. I could not read music at all. So I would.

[Patrick]

You have to read music. I thought you just had to sing.

[Kristin]

Or you kind of have to be able to follow it. I was kindly asked to leave the choir because I was really.

[Patrick]

That went over real well.

[Kristin]

Well, I was very embarrassing at the end of the. At the end of the thing, I was kind of like, I. I get. I. It's probably more like I saw myself out. Cause I was like, this isn't gonna be fun if I can't do. I can't do this.

[Patrick]

Oh, no.

[Kristin]

But she's an honors choir. Like, that's so sweet. Good for her.

[Patrick]

And we'll learn more about the event. But what Janelle is doing that night is that she's performing at this big venue. It's gonna be televised.

[Kristin]

The Union Bank. I'm like, I think that's actually the bank.

[Patrick]

The United bank venue.

[Kristin]

Oh, yeah. The United Bank. Or it. Look, is it not a bank?

[Patrick]

I don't know.

[Kristin]

I don't know.

[Patrick]

I know it's a big deal because.

[Kristin]

We see the building today and, like, the staircase where they're sitting on, like, it's all still there. But it does look like the lobby of a bank. That's all I'm saying.

[Patrick]

Gloria is saying, look, Janelle had a cold. She had to stay home from school for a few days before this. But she really wanted to perform in the concert, which means you had to go to school that day.

[Kristin]

That is such a dumb rule. I remember that rule. If I could for one second. We had Jamie Haley, who was like, the greatest singer of all time, and she like, every year, you would look forward to her performance in the Talent. So she really sang. Like, she was, like, an incredible singer. And one year, she was really sick for three days, and they wouldn't let her sing in the talent show. And everyone protested, and ultimately they let her sing. And you know what she's saying? I was gonna ask Black Velvet.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God.

[Kristin]

Yes, it was Black Velvet.

[Patrick]

What?

[Kristin]

It was. It was. It was like.

[Patrick]

Were you sick or were you not?

[Kristin]

No, she was really sick. It was. Donna Martin graduates protest like, we were gonna walk out. And they finally let her. They're like, fine. Jamie can sing in the talent show.

[Patrick]

But she still, like, wailed and sound awful.

[Kristin]

She closed out the talent show. I mean, it's a performance of a lifetime.

[Patrick]

She was a closer. She was a close. Who is this person?

[Kristin]

Jamie Haley.

[Patrick]

She walks among us mere mortals. Jesus Christ.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

Black Velvet. She said black.

[Kristin]

I'll never forget it.

[Patrick]

Was it on a karaoke track? Was someone.

[Kristin]

Yes, it was some kind of track.

[Patrick]

It had to have been a track.

[Kristin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Patrick]

Damn.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

But anyway, that's legendary. That's like legendary behavior. Legendary behavior. Like, to have a shred of that.

[Kristin]

I know, I know.

[Patrick]

And I say this with love. Like, audacity.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

In the good way. Like, to have that for two seconds would be too powerful.

[Kristin]

The Donna Martin graduates of it all. We were not having it.

[Patrick]

No. Travel down the road. Back again, girl.

[Kristin]

Pretty Litter is back. The reason we still work with Pretty Litter is because we love them. But also, it gives us an opportunity to check in on Macaroni. Your friend Ashley.

[Patrick]

Yeah, Call him Mac. Call him Roni. Just call him. Don't call him late for dinner.

[Kristin]

Call him late for dinner.

[Patrick]

No, Lil Mac is great. He loves his Pretty Litter and Ashley loves it, too. Because here's the thing about Pretty Litter.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Pretty Litter is a non clumping formula. Traps odor and moisture. So you're not tracking it all over your house.

[Kristin]

Because anybody who's ever had cats like me knows the stinky cat litter that's tracked everywhere in your house. It is the worst, worst, worst part of having cats. With Pretty Litter. That's not a thing.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And you get nose blind as the person who lives there. So when you have guests, everyone's like, oh, hi. Not anymore.

[Kristin]

Did you also know that cats don't speak English?

[Patrick]

I know. Breaking news.

[Kristin]

Breaking news. But they. We found a way to communicate with them when they don't feel well. What happens is the cats use the litter, and if the litter turns A different color. With Pretty Litter, then you know that you got to take the cat to the vet.

[Patrick]

Yeah. Like a urinary tract infection or kidney issue. Anything they can tell through the pee of the cat.

[Kristin]

Yeah, exactly. They also deliver it right to your door. You don't have to carry those heavy, awful bags from your car from the grocery store. The worst part of it.

[Patrick]

Yeah. I know someone who, like, won the Hamilton lottery, but had, like, her big kitty litter thing and had to, like, check it and, like, go to the Marriott across the street and handle.

[Kristin]

You've been saving that story for eight years.

[Patrick]

I know. Life happens. You don't want to deal with the kitty litter running around Times Square. Just have a ship to your door.

[Kristin]

No problem with Pretty Litter fam. We love Pretty Litter. Pretty Litter is amazing. You gotta try it. Go to prettylitter.com tco to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy. Cracks me up every time.

[Patrick]

That's PrettyLitter.com TCO to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy.

[Kristin]

Prettylitter.com TCO terms and conditions apply.

[Patrick]

See site for details.

[Kristin]

Can always count on you for the rules.

[Patrick]

That's a true story about Hamilton. It was, like, in 2016 to the height of Hamilmania. It was insane. So Janelle goes to school, obviously, because she can't perform if she, like, takes the day off.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

But the family, like, it's a really stressful day because Janelle's really pissed because now her mom's going away for Christmas. And Janelle, now they can't celebrate Christmas until her mom comes home from California on the 26th. And it's kind of like, I'm not the same.

[Kristin]

I'm on Janelle's side on this as a kid. You know what I mean? Whatever the reasons are that the mom is going, I get whatever. Not my business. But I understand why Janelle is upset.

[Patrick]

And so when Gloria, the mom, leaves at 6:00 on December 20th, it's like, a little bit tense.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

And she gives Chanel a kiss goodbye. And she doesn't say this, but, like, that's the last time she sees her.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

And she says, like, you know, and you hear this all the time in these cases, but, like, everybody in their life is like, I wish I could have done this different. I would have done that different. She replays that moment in her head every night before bed.

[Patrick]

And the holidays are really stressful as much as December is so much fun, because there are a lot of Events. It's stressful because there are a lot of events. And now, you know, like, so that night, Jim takes Janelle to McDonald's before her concert.

[Kristin]

Dad of the year.

[Patrick]

Dad of the year.

[Kristin]

I mean, take her. Take her to McDonald's out of the year.

[Patrick]

And now Jim is in a really tough position, right, because they're. Both of his daughters have big events, and he's one person. He can't be in two places at once. And Jim has to make a decision that many people listening, I'm sure have gone through on a regular basis.

[Kristin]

I mean, even with Steve and I, like, yes, this happens to every parent. You gotta decide.

[Patrick]

So Jim takes Janelle McDonald. McDonald's in the winter. I know.

[Kristin]

I'm thinking about the double cheeseburger meal right now.

[Patrick]

It's the fucking crispiest Coke in the world. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. So they go to McDonald's before the concert. Now Jim drops Janelle off at the bus. All the kids are going to the concert together on the bus. He watched her get on that bus. He waved to her. Now Jim goes to Jennifer's basketball game.

[Kristin]

I had to kind of choose between.

[Patrick]

Was I going to go to the concert or was I going to go.

[Kristin]

To the basketball game with my sports interests and everything. I gravitated towards going to that basketball game again.

[Patrick]

Two daughters, one of him, his wife is away. He can't be in two places at once. This is what happens.

[Kristin]

The thing about the concert, too, is that it's being broadcast on cable that night.

[Patrick]

It's televised.

[Kristin]

I mean, that's a really big deal.

[Patrick]

And Janelle was front and center.

[Kristin]

And we see footage of it, which is amazing.

[Patrick]

She's front and center with her friend Deanna Ross.

[Kristin]

Deanna's in the back.

[Patrick]

Deanna's like, thanks, Deanna's parents for forcing her to endure a lifetime of, oh, my God, what? Your name is Diana Ross. To which she has to reply, no, it's Deanna.

[Kristin]

Deanna. It's not the same now.

[Patrick]

But I love Deanna.

[Kristin]

And her father looks through it enough like, please don't give this guy any more shit.

[Patrick]

Ross. This is a generational issue in this family with the naming. But I love Deanna and I love Ross, and I love Janelle's parents also.

[Kristin]

I also, like, love this community because, you know, when the mom's away. So, like, the dad's a single dad for the weekend. Like, he's relying on the community to help. So he just knows. I didn't know exactly what time Janelle would Get home. But I knew that somebody would bring her home. Like one of her friend's parents would totally do it.

[Patrick]

Because Janelle and Deanna are super close. So the bus brings all the kids back and. Right. Russell Ross. Russ Ross says in the sweetest way. He was like, should we ask for a ride home? And I just said, you bet. He's like, I've given her a ride. It would be weird if I didn't give her a ride home that day. I've given her thousands of rides home. The girls talk about immaculate vibes in this car. I know the girls are on a high after the performance. The girls were giddy about, you know, hey, we were on cable. Maybe they'll win our signatures.

[Angela]

We were just talking about Christmas break, exchanging gifts, maybe. Talking about boys.

[Kristin]

They're talking about boys and Christmas presents.

[Patrick]

Just, I mean, shining, glistening vibes. Loving this car ride.

[Kristin]

While we're here on the rest Ross last story. I promise. Cause we got some serious shit to get to.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God.

[Kristin]

My mom went to college with a woman named Nancy Ann Ciencianis. So her name is Nancy Ann Ciencianis.

[Patrick]

Oh my God. Why do you do this? Why do people do this? Like, answer for yourself.

[Kristin]

I know. Nancy Anciencynes. That's a real name. That really shouldn't be.

[Patrick]

The minute you turn, it should be something else.

[Kristin]

Nancy Ann Cienciennes.

[Patrick]

That's Nancy Ann. Who is Anne? Anne must be this fucking saint on earth that her parents insisted on middle naming her that.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

Who was Anne?

[Kristin]

I don't know, but maybe. Maybe they didn't even do the math until it was too late. You know what I mean?

[Patrick]

That is insane. How do you name a kid without saying it out loud?

[Kristin]

Should it be Bridget? Should it be Joanna? No. Why don't we go with Ann? Nobody's thinking any further than the middle name.

[Patrick]

This is a child. And it's also like, stop being selfish. It's their name again. Think of them in recess on the playground.

[Kristin]

Imagine between like, Nancy Allison cnc or like Nancy Ann cn. It's like, oh, no.

[Patrick]

Stop being selfish for two seconds. It's not really your name. They didn't choose to be born and they didn't choose their name. And now you have to suffer.

[Kristin]

I'm really sorry that we didn't ask you all to pull over for that. Because that's kind of an explosive moment. Like, there's probably coffee all over dashboards all over this country right now.

[Patrick]

God. Well, get used. Don't even bother cleaning up because we Got a long way to go.

[Kristin]

True.

[Patrick]

So it's 8:25, this little perfect, like imagine what they're listening to in the car. Just so much fun.

[Kristin]

Girls just want to have fun.

[Patrick]

Amazing. 825, the car gets to Janelle's house. The garage was part of the way up. Kind of normal. Of course. The headlights went into the garage and nothing unusual. I guess.

[Angela]

I told her, I'll see you tomorrow. She turned around and waited. We always had her flick the lights.

[Patrick]

On and off just to make sure.

[Angela]

She made it in and everything's fine.

[Patrick]

Deanna and her dad always had Janelle flick the lights on and off to make sure she was safe inside his family.

[Kristin]

It was the exact same ritual in my house.

[Patrick]

Love it.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So 9:30, Jim, the dad gets home and he knows it was 9:30 because he was like listening to the news on the way home. It was the night. Whatever.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

He walks into the house and calls for Janelle and there's no response. But he knows Janelle was definitely home at some point because the TV was on and she had like taken her shoes and tights off. Is there no nothing better than taking your fucking tights off.

[Kristin]

The way he described that the shoes look like they've been kicked off.

[Patrick]

Of course, they were like the best.

[Kristin]

Thing in the world.

[Patrick]

Wait.

[Kristin]

Couldn't wait.

[Patrick]

Today. I can't wait to get those goddamn tights off.

[Kristin]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So the dad's like, she probably didn't hear me. Maybe she's upstairs because like the TV's not like, obviously Janelle got home safely.

[Steve]

Yeah, exactly.

[Patrick]

So Jim goes upstairs to look for Janelle to say hi. Janelle isn't there. We immediately know something's wrong.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

Jennifer, the sister, gets home from the basketball game around 10 and she's like, I could tell right away that something was off. And the dad is kind of frantic. He's asking her if she knows where Janelle. She doesn't know. All of a sudden he's calling all of her friends.

[Patrick]

Yeah. By 10:10, I remember it's 1985. So 30 minutes later, because he was waiting for Jennifer to get home. Maybe they're together, I don't know. And so now they're calling everyone. So Russell, the best, Deanna's father who drove her home.

[Kristin]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Talks about dropping her off at 8.30pm she flicked the lights and he's like, yeah. Well, I remember the garage door was wide open when I got there. So, you know, I figured someone was home. Everything was fine.

[Kristin]

The dad immediately. This scares Jim to death. He's like, that is not normal. And he says, I know for a fact the garage do was not open when I left.

[Patrick]

The minute he's like, back up a second.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

It was what I know.

[Kristin]

And the fact that Janelle didn't clock it. You know what I mean? Like that, like.

[Patrick]

Or maybe she did, but it's like, you're home, you go into the house.

[Kristin]

We skipped this when we got to that part. But Russ says he noticed that the garage door was open and that didn't seem weird to him. You know what I mean? So he said it was like partway open. Maybe it's one of those things you remember in hindsight that you kind of like, wait a second. The garage door.

[Patrick]

Like, I think it's something in a neighborhood like this that you kind of clock. But it's like, what are you going to do? Get it to 9:30? Like, she's home safe. She flicked the lights.

[Kristin]

It's also like, this is the safest town in America where we're told, like, nothing bad ever happens here. Like, okay, it's just a weird thing. Like, no, even if people notice it, they're not going to do anything about it.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So by 11:00, the police have been called and Detective Mike Prill gets the call.

[Kristin]

And I want to point out too that everyone is saying, I'm glad that we very quickly are like, she did not run away. The sister is like, she didn't run away. The dad was like, she would never have run away. I love that. That is pretty quickly taken off the table.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So the two cops are Mike and Mark. And yeah. They basically say, look, the garage door is open. There's no sign of a struggle. There's no force entry. She kicked her shoes off. Like, this is typical 13 old behavior.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And her coat is missing. Like, clearly she's not a runaway. And when I. They said that, I was like, oh my God, can we play that again?

[Kristin]

I know, I know.

[Patrick]

10 million times and louder and slower for everybody else. She's not a runaway.

[Kristin]

And like, thank God. Right?

[Patrick]

But here's the most important thing.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Detective]

There were shoe prints in the snow in the backyard that appeared to have been raked out. As far as Jim could tell, they were not his. And Jim is unable to explain why it looks the way it looked. The footprints led from the garage to the garden level windows in the back of the home, as if someone had been looking into the windows and then raked the tracks out.

[Patrick]

The prince had been raked out. What they say, meaning that Someone tried to destroy the prints.

[Kristin]

Now that is also a detail that is never released to the public. So keep that in mind.

[Patrick]

And the prints go from the garage to this, what they describe as a garden level window in the back of the home. So it's like, oh my God, someone was looking in the window, stalking the house.

[Kristin]

In Janelle, I cannot imagine a scarier moment. Like looking at that from the outside. It's dark out. She's not even 13. She's home by herself. The house is dark and there's a man looking through the windows. It scares me to death.

[Patrick]

And the cops are thinking like, okay, well, maybe the person probably knew the family at least, right? Like they knew Gloria the mom would be away, they knew Janelle would be home alone. It's either that or it's completely random. And I honestly don't know what's worse.

[Kristin]

And the cops keep saying like, there's no sign of a struggle, there's no forced entry. The garage door was open, the TV was on. Like, everything seems normal here. Like it seems like would have gone with somebody that she trusted. But in the back of my mind I'm like, I know even now the statistics are if kids are kidnapped, it's like 99% of the time is somebody that they know. I'm like, you gotta stop. Like, like this is so scary to me that like it does happen that kids are abducted by strangers, you know.

[Patrick]

And it's also scary to think about that she was home alone enough to like get herself a snack and kick her shoes off and watch tv and someone was watching her do it.

[Kristin]

I don't want to, like, I don't want to make anybody feel bad. The killer is the killer. But like we know that she got home a little bit after 8 and the dad doesn't get home until 9:30. That is too for a 12 year old to be home by themselves.

[Patrick]

Well, it's like 8:30 to 9:30.

[Kristin]

It's like it was a little after 8 is what Russ says. And he walks in the door at 9:30. Like it. For me, it's too. That is too long. Now again for you now in 2024. I was going to say it's 2024. I know when I was that age, I was absolutely left home alone by myself. Probably longer than that. Or worse. I was left home like tending to my younger siblings. You know what I mean? I get it. I'm not blaming the dad. This was, this was acceptable at the time. It just scares me to death.

[Patrick]

Yeah. Travel down the road Back again, girl.

[Kristin]

This message is sponsored by Greenlight. This is all about teaching the kids how to manage their money. And I gotta tell you, it is really working with Daisy. Daisy checks her allowance on the Greenlight app every single week to see how much money she has. Cause she knows if we go into like a cvs, she's gonna wanna buy one of those little stuffed animal things.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And this is a great time of year to start doing this. Cause it's like the gifting season, right?

[Kristin]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So it's a great time to talk to your kids about budgeting.

[Kristin]

Yes.

[Patrick]

And what, you know, what they wanna buy for their friends.

[Kristin]

And I've said this before, I never had any when I was a kid, which is why I was a mess with money later in life. It is one of my greatest joys to actually have this Greenlight app. The Greenlight debit card that Daisy's obsessed with makes her feel like a grownup, but it also makes me feel like a good parent because I'm actually like giving her like life lessons on saving. We even talk a little bit about investing.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

You know, like a little bit about earning your money. Because you can pay her allowance through the app.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So just to be clear, Greenlight is a debit card and a money app.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So it's all about families. Parents can send money to their kids, keep an eye on the kids spending, keep an eye on their saving.

[Kristin]

They've got this chores feature where you can set up a one time or recurring chores. So Daisy's got her three chores she's got to do like daily throughout the week. And then when she does, we set it up as a recurring thing. Assuming she's going to do it.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

She gets her allowance every week and she always wants to know how much money she has.

[Patrick]

And this is a great thing to kind of like start the year off right. Start the year off all organized, ready to go. You got your chores, everyone's excited.

[Kristin]

You got to do the money stuff with your kids again. I never had it. And like, I, I can see the benefit it's having for her because Greenlight.

[Patrick]

Wasn'T a thing and now it is, so there's no excuse.

[Kristin]

So, fam, sign up for greenlight [e-mail].

[Patrick]

TCO that's greenlight.com TCO to try greenlight.

[Kristin]

Today greenlight.com TCO my dad also never paid child support, so there was that.

[Patrick]

Well, we're not going to get into that right now.

[Kristin]

Okay. Should we move on?

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

Okay.

[Patrick]

So, Gloria. Oh, my God. Gloria, the mother, calls home to tell Jim, her husband, hey, you know, I.

[Kristin]

Made it together, all good.

[Patrick]

So now Jim, who's devastated, has to tell her what's going on. And so by the next day, December 21, 1984, Janelle is missing for 12 hours.

[Kristin]

The documentary gets this wrong. Did you see this? It says missing 12 days. And it really fucked me up for a second. I was like, wait, oh really? Yeah, it's like a typo in the documentary.

[Patrick]

Oh God, that's so annoying.

[Kristin]

I've never seen that before.

[Patrick]

No, that's not cool.

[Kristin]

No, because I was like, it really fucked me up for a minute. But anyway, they fucked that up. It's 12 hours later.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And so Jennifer, the sister, gets a police escort to school. She showed up to school in a police. Which had to have been incredibly surreal.

[Kristin]

And I gotta say, the mom, by.

[Angela]

The time I came to California, my sister and brother in law picked me up. And I called up Jim and I said, hi, honey, I'm here safely.

[Patrick]

That's when the nightmare really for both of us really hits.

[Angela]

I flew home that night. I was crying the whole way, just missing her a lot.

[Patrick]

She got to the house okay, let me just tell my husband I landed safely. And then just like hangs up and just goes home in the most devastating, horrifying way you can imagine.

[Kristin]

And the way that she says, I flew home sobbing and missing her on December 21, 1984. And I can just feel that feeling of like I may never see my daughter again. Like I just, I can feel it's just so awful.

[Patrick]

So it's the morning of December 21, 12 hours missing. And the cops are talking to everyone before they leave for work. Like they're knocking on doors at 6:30 in the morning. Streets are closed off. You can't leave the area without talking to a cop. They're looking everywhere, bridges, nearby, irrigation ditches. I know she's just more nightmare fuel in case you need it. But a neighbor says actually last night at around like around 8:42, yeah, my dog started barking like crazy. And my dog doesn't bark like that. So that's super weird. And I'm thinking with a specific time like that this neighbor is people like us, something out of the ordinary happens. What time is it?

[Kristin]

I was. That's exactly. Like he looked at the microwave. He's like, something weird is going on. 1984, 1984.

[Patrick]

Seems maybe he's like super fan. I don't know.

[Kristin]

You watch, he's looking at the Super 8 machine. Whatever he's looking at the VCR. Maybe he looks at the VCR.

[Patrick]

Done. 1984. Right. I have no context of time.

[Kristin]

Yeah, me either. But he, like, I was thinking the same thing. That the fact that he knew that it was 8:42 meant that he, like, something is going on. I'm clocking it in case I am asked. And then the horror movie of being actually asked the next day.

[Patrick]

Right. You know, because Janelle disappeared between like, 8:15 and 9:30. The dog barked at 8:42. And Jim, the dad got home at 9:30.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So it doesn't really. The cops are trying to think about, like, was this a random intruder or someone who knew the family? And they're thinking. They're just, like, theorizing, but they're thinking.

[Detective]

The proposition for some drifter coming through town and just stumbling into a house that conveniently had what he wanted and then just vanishes into the night. It's so fantastical that it comes across as impossible.

[Patrick]

Everything worked out for him then.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

You know, Gloria was out of town. Jim, the dad was at the basketball game.

[Kristin]

But not everything. Cause the dog started barking.

[Patrick]

We have a time.

[Kristin]

That's the one thing. Because this does get me that, like, no one saw anything.

[Patrick]

Well, that's the other thing. It's like, how did he take. Janelle is described as fiery. So, like, how did no one hear them? How did no one see them? Was she overpowered and drugged? And where are her footprints? So she was carried out of the house.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

And, I mean, we can talk more about it when we get to what we learn happened. But we don't know when she was subdued.

[Patrick]

We don't. I mean, so the family's devastated. Deanne and her father are devastated. Everyone is trying to figure this out. It's also all over the news. And it's on the news at night, it's on the radio during the day. Like, the whole community is sort of mobilized to, like, the verbiage they're using is like, find Janelle and bring her home for Christmas. Which just like, rips your fucking heart out.

[Kristin]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So by December 24th, the FBI enters the chat.

[Kristin]

Right. Because it's gotten so much news coverage. They're getting tips from everywhere, and they're overwhelmed. We're told the Greeley Police Department is a small force, like something about 80 officers. And they cannot manage the volume of tips they're getting. So the FBI steps in.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And also Jim Christie, the pastor, is the one at the house answering all the phone calls coming into Janelle's house because he doesn't want the family to have to deal with it.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Everyone's like, this is a really kind thing to do. And I'm like, is it? That feels suspicious, Someone gatekeeping the phone calls? I mean, it's the nature of this gig, dear listener.

[Kristin]

Totally. I got it. That way, I can't. Like, if, God forbid, anything were to happen to Daisy, I could not be, like, fielding the phone.

[Patrick]

Yeah, but I hear that, and I'm like, we got a middleman, huh?

[Kristin]

Yeah. Listen, you're not the only one pointing fingers. You know what I mean? Like, everyone's. We're going to get to the point fingers in just a second.

[Patrick]

Okay. Well, here's something weird.

[Kristin]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

The cops get a phone call. Someone claiming to be a pastor named Panky.

[Kristin]

Like, last name Panky, and he's the first name Pastor Panky. Situation.

[Patrick]

I hate Pastor Panky. And this pastor named Panky calls and says, look, I. Oh, man, do I have a story for you.

[Detective]

He straight out said that someone had come forward to him and confessed, but that Panky was prevented from telling Statler who this individual was hiding behind. For lack of a better word, pastoral privilege.

[Patrick]

I'm just gonna let you know that I know, but I can't give you any more information. To which I say, then why are we here? Why pick up the phone and make.

[Kristin]

The phone call I have, literally. Then why are you calling, girl, when I wrote that, I heard your voice saying it in exactly the way you said it.

[Patrick]

No one's preventing you from anything, Panky. You picked up the phone. Do the right thing.

[Kristin]

That's also against the law. Look, I looked into this. A priest will tell you that if you go into confession. A therapist will tell you if you go into your therapist session, you cannot confess to a murder. They have. They are mandatory reporters.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

You know what I mean.

[Patrick]

If you're a danger to yourself or others.

[Kristin]

Yes. If you've committed a murder, they have to turn you in. And the cops should know that. The cops do not take this very seriously. Because they tell us, a few days later, this Pinky, he called in to report that somebody had confessed and murdered him. But then he shows up at the police station a few days later to say, disregard. Just kidding.

[Patrick]

No disregard it ever happened. Peace be with you. Bye. And you're like, what? I know what's going on.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

And then this guy was like, never heard from again. And I'm like, all right, I hate this guy.

[Kristin]

We are told the cops think it's A prank. Like, if that's a prank, that guy should go to fucking prison.

[Patrick]

But I'm sure. Of course. But how many times do we hear in every case, like, the prank phone calls to the family? And that's why sometimes cops don't want to ask the public for help, because then you get false tips and you get pranks. People are cruel.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

We wouldn't have a job if they weren't. So, like, I know. I'm sure that kind of shit happens a lot more than anything.

[Kristin]

I mean, how many times we actually heard our tip getting called in that leads to solving the case? 99% the other.

[Patrick]

Like, it's crazy.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So now we meet Angela Hicks.

[Angela]

In 1984, we were living west of Greeley, about three miles. And at that point, we had no TV, no radio, but it was cornfields and open space between there and the mountains.

[Kristin]

She says it was just cornfields and open space between there and the mountains.

[Patrick]

Now her husband Steve was, quote, never into Christmas.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

This year was different, though, because Steve's dad wants to spend Christmas together before people start dying because he's literally, like, not sure how many Christmases I have on the godforsaken earth. Muster up some joy and cheer, Steve. We're celebrating this year.

[Kristin]

And you know what Steve says? Absolutely not, dad. We're not doing it.

[Patrick]

And Steve sucks. And it's not just about the holiday season specifically.

[Kristin]

It's kind of about that, though.

[Patrick]

It is. But for me, the reason I think he sucks so bad. And we'll get into why later, but right now, I'm like, I know everything I need to know about you. You don't want to celebrate anything ever. Like, what a fucking miserable existence.

[Kristin]

And his whole thing, too, is like, it's fine. You want to be the Grinch and not celebrate fine. But, like, you know that he's depriving the joke. Like, no Christmas music in the house, no Christmas tree, no presents for the kid. He's got to ruin it for everybody.

[Patrick]

Everybody. And also, don't do that, parents. I don't know. Like, let's celebrate before people start dying.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

That is manipulative and stupid, and it never fucking works.

[Kristin]

No, no.

[Patrick]

Just don't manipulate your kids that way. And also, who wants to hang out with Steve anyway?

[Kristin]

Steve sucks the worst.

[Patrick]

We're going to sort of tell you what is going on in Steve and Angela's lives at the same time of, like, what was going on in Janelle's disappearance. Right? So 18 hours after Janelle goes Missing. Here's what's going on with Shitty Ste.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Angela]

So the afternoon of the 21st, all of a sudden, Steve came home and said, get us packed. We're leaving tomorrow morning. I felt so bad because we had two Great Dane dogs. Steve said, don't worry about the dogs. I dumped the dogs. Get us ready to go.

[Kristin]

Pack your own fucking dogs.

[Patrick]

Pack your own Tahiti. Yeah. But also, like, now you want to go visit your parents also, you want to go so bad, you pack your shit.

[Kristin]

Right. Because he had said, we're not going to Big Bear to go to see my parents. Suddenly, on December 21, 18 hours after Janelle went missing, it's all hands on deck. We got to get the fuck out.

[Patrick]

Of now, this minute, now. So Angela says, we're just going to go by this real fast. Angela says that Steve, quote, dumps the dogs. And I have to assume that means some wonderful person found them and gave them the life they deserve.

[Kristin]

But there's no question that, like, those dogs were taken somewhere, like, to another home, and they had a better life.

[Patrick]

Of course they did.

[Kristin]

That's what happened.

[Patrick]

As long as you're away from this shitty person, Steve, you're okay.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So they get to the family's house, and guess what? Shitty Steve is not welcome. Because he immediate gets in a huge fight with his father.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And then he tells Angela once again, get everything together and pack the car and go do it yourself.

[Kristin]

Do it yourself.

[Patrick]

Don't you know he hates celebrating? He's a miserable sack of shit. And he's abusive to Angela. Do you not know everything you need to know about this guy?

[Kristin]

100%.

[Patrick]

Travel down the road. Back again, girl.

[Kristin]

Gab is back. This is another thing we use in our house every single day. Gab is the leader in safe phones and watches for kids, teens, and tweens.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So here's the thing about this phone. It has no social media apps, no Internet browser. It has GPS tracking. So Gap devices were built from the ground up specifically for kids and teens. And now they can be safely connected.

[Kristin]

And let me tell you this. This is maybe counterintuitive. Want your kid to not want a cell phone. Give them this phone because it's safe for them to use. It's also really fun for them to use, but they don't become obsessed with it because it demystifies the whole cell phone thing. Yeah.

[Patrick]

Now they.

[Kristin]

Right. The only people who can, like, send pictures are people that are contacts. Grandpa. Not a contact yet. Cause we keep forgetting to add them.

[Patrick]

Right, but you have to add the addict.

[Kristin]

Grandpa can't send pictures. Grandma can. Grandpa cannot.

[Patrick]

Great. And also, it's not just, like, a super boring phone because they have apps that kids actually want. So, like, the Gab music app lets kids stream clean, approved music.

[Kristin]

Yep. It's true. I can't say it enough. Like, Daisy loves having a phone, but she's not obsessed with it.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And kids also get unlimited talk and text with Gab messenger, which is the first messaging and video calling app designed with kids safety as a top priority.

[Kristin]

Yeah, look, I just want to say, practically, like, all of these bells and whistles are awesome, but as a parent who uses this phone, we live and die by it.

[Patrick]

Well, you have peace of mind now, because, you know, it's all. It's not like, oh, did I turn off the settings on my personal phone? And I just takes care of it for you.

[Kristin]

Exactly. And fam. Do it now, because right now, Gab is offering huge discounts on their phones and watches.

[Patrick]

The best part, there's no contracts required.

[Kristin]

Just go to gab.comtco to get started.

[Patrick]

That's Gab G A B b.com/gab.comtco tell them terms and conditions apply. Just saying, girl.

[Kristin]

Cornbread is back. Cornbread is America's first ever USDA organic THC gummy.

[Patrick]

Yeah. This is all about the healthier happy hour, correct? It's a natural and healthier way to experience a carefree moment.

[Kristin]

Are you tired of going home and having four whiskeys at the end of the night? Do one of these, Wake up feeling great the next morning?

[Patrick]

Well, I think it's more about the next day, too.

[Kristin]

Well, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Sleep through the night, feel great. Wake up feeling refreshed.

[Patrick]

Yeah. These THC gummies offer a balanced sense of happiness and relaxation, which, honestly, I think we could all use these days.

[Kristin]

100%. Here's how it works. It's 10 milligrams of THC per gummy for just the right dose.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And they don't use any of those harsh solvents like petrochemicals or industrial acids. We're not doing that.

[Kristin]

Can I tell you, I know that that might not mean anything to anybody, but I've tried other gummies that, like, hurt my tongue. Ooh. It feels like a burn sensation on your tongue. Like, this is what we're talking about. You're not dealing with any of that here.

[Patrick]

That's gross.

[Kristin]

It's really girl, like.

[Patrick]

So these have no synthetic ingredients, so.

[Kristin]

Look on your Face. You were disgusting.

[Patrick]

I am. That's horrifying. Cornbread.

[Kristin]

No, girl.

[Patrick]

And these are also farm bill compliant and legal for adults over 21.

[Kristin]

Yeah, I'm absolutely obsessed. So if you're looking for a healthier way to enjoy a carefree moment, you got to give cornbread hemp a try.

[Patrick]

They've created the first ever USDA organic THC gummy that's 100% legal.

[Kristin]

If you want to give cornbread a try, they're offering TCO. Listeners buy one, get one free on all products.

[Patrick]

Just visit cornbreadhemp.com TCO and use promo code TCO at checkout.

[Kristin]

You gotta do both. Fam. That's cornbreadhemp.com TCo and code TCO for buy one, get one free on your first order.

[Patrick]

Yeah. Cheers to a healthier happy hour.

[Kristin]

Everybody choose your happy hour.

[Patrick]

Clink. Or choo choo or something.

[Kristin]

Choo choo.

[Patrick]

Oh, I met with the ew Chew Ew. But, yeah, that's a new thing. So they're in the car.

[Kristin]

Oh, God, this is insane.

[Patrick]

Sitting in silence, by the way. Yes, because three hours into the drive.

[Kristin]

And you know why? Because it's all Christmas music on that day. He doesn't want to hear it.

[Patrick]

And also, like, Angela might like it. So let's not do it if it's going to be nice for Angela. So they're sitting in silence. And after three hours, Steve finally puts the radio on.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

Now the news about Janelle is on every local station.

[Kristin]

It's been 18 hours, and it's all.

[Patrick]

Steve wants to listen to.

[Angela]

Steve said, keep looking, keep looking. He was so focused on these news reports over and over. I'm flipping the radio dial for the entire rest of the trip home.

[Kristin]

She says she's got to do this for the rest of the ride home.

[Patrick]

Like, just being screamed at to do to, like, getting barked orders.

[Kristin]

And also, like, if you're Angela, aren't you? Like, why, like, why are you so upset? Like, it's all the same information. It's, you know.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And also, like, she's definitely been broken down. So I don't even think she's. And I'm not saying I'm not. Angela does amazing. She's on the right side of history here. But in that moment, you're just like, as long as he stops yelling at me, I'll just fucking change the channel. But on one of these stations, they hear the name Russ Ross. Now, Russ Ross is one of our best friends because he drove Janelle home. He and Deanna are like, besties with Janelle. So Steve. Shitty Steve knows Russ. Russ is Steve's boss, and Steve hates him.

[Kristin]

Right.

[Patrick]

And Steve is now thrilled to hear that Russ is mixed up in this awful tragedy because Russ was the last adult to see Janelle.

[Kristin]

Yeah. And so Steve is thrilled to hear that Russ Ross is, like, maybe going to get in trouble for this, because.

[Patrick]

Now people are, like, theorizing. They're, like, calling in and they're like, well, I think the dad who drove her home has to have something to do with it. Now, Steve is loving this because he hates Russ. So he loves this. Forget the fact that it's a horrible tragedy on Christmas.

[Kristin]

Right, Right, right. And a little girl is missing.

[Patrick]

Right. If Russ is involved in something horrible, that's really great for Steve.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

And Angela, the wife, is saying, like, obviously, this was very strange behavior. I just didn't understand what was going on. So by December 28, they've been home for a couple of days.

[Angela]

So now we're home. We're kind of going to a normal mode for, you know, two or three days. All of a sudden, I smelled smoke. And at the back of the property, there's a car on fire. And Steve is standing near the car, kind of leaning on a shovel.

[Kristin]

Steve has set his car on fire, and he's just standing there watching it burn.

[Patrick]

And I'm like, okay, Steve did this, right?

[Kristin]

I mean, no question.

[Patrick]

The minute you like. I mean, of course. I'm like, why are we giving a About this horrible guy? Like, now we got to get Angela out of here, too. We got to find just. Is for Janelle. We gotta go. I'm like, but what the fudge? Oh. Nobody's sitting there in the middle of a field watching it burn. I'm like, oh, let's get this guy.

[Kristin]

Exactly. And when you're Angela, you're just kind of like, you, like, you know, for her, like, once again, we've got the hindsight of the documentary. For her, she must be like, what the fuck is going on here?

[Patrick]

It's like another day in terror for Angela.

[Kristin]

And also, like, you know, the. Probably the only news reports Angela's heard about this was in the car. Because they don't have a radio in the house. They don't have a tv. She's completely isolated from the world.

[Patrick]

By design.

[Kristin]

By design.

[Patrick]

So let's go back to the case. Time is going by. It's now January 1985. The little evidence they have is kind of growing old, and time is the worst enemy of a case. Like this in all cases, but especially when someone's missing.

[Kristin]

And, like, they've been getting call after call after call, but no leads. Nothing new has come from that. And so they say, like, at this point, they've got to look at the dad, because the dad remember the circumstance. Like, the person who took her, either it would have to have been random and he got, quote, lucky, or it would have been a person who would have known the mom was out of the house, the sister was at a basketball game. There was this window of time that Janelle was going to be home alone. And the only person who would have known that would have been the dad.

[Patrick]

Right. And also, like, you gotta start at the center and work our way out, Right?

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So now Jim, the dad goes in. Remember it's 1985.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

He goes in to take a polygraph test because he's like, I see this on TV all the time. Like, it seems fairly ordinary. All he wants to do is help. He knows he didn't do anything.

[Kristin]

But, like, when they get to polygraph, you would think they would say, you just gotta stay calm and give us the answers. They don't give him that instruction.

[Patrick]

The police? No, they're not gonna do that, girl. They're not gonna help you pass the poly on a cold case that happened during Christmas, which all eyes are on the cops getting this solved yesterday. So Jim's like, no problem. Fellas, what time should I be there? Is 8am early enough for you? I can make it 7:30. Happy to help. And really, Jim wants to help. This is his daughter, of course.

[Kristin]

And we hear it. We hear the recording of the polygraph.

[Patrick]

It's contentious right away.

[Kristin]

I do not know where she is or who took her. That's it. Are you sure? Absolutely. Absolutely sure. I don't want somebody coming to read me the scriptures or something just to bar me up, to try to get me to confess something. I would like the Goldman to have my daughter there and get out of the public eyes.

[Patrick]

The cops are doing that thing, talking to him like he did it, and they know he did it, and they have all this proof because cops can lie to you. So of course, Jim is getting worked up, which is not good for the results of the polygraph. And he fails it because of course he does.

[Kristin]

And they say that, like, we had to look at Jim because we had no other options. And I'm like, that's just not a good enough reason, girl.

[Patrick]

But they're saying it out loud.

[Kristin]

They are saying it out loud.

[Patrick]

They're saying it out loud.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

And also, I know that this doesn't. It shouldn't mean it, but, like, the dad does not give off killer vibes. You know what I mean?

[Patrick]

No.

[Kristin]

Like, this is the. This is the man who, like, just. You can see on the face of it, he did not kill his daughter.

[Patrick]

Your heart. I mean, if you're a real person.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Your heart has to break a little to be desperate. If you're a cop. Right. You're desperate for a break in this case. This is a grieving father. It's January. He just spent Christmas and New Year's mourning his daughter with his family. And you're calling him in and not being honest about the. Your heart has to break a little knowing this guy didn't fucking do it.

[Kristin]

Think about the difference between. Between him and Alyssa Turney's dad.

[Patrick]

Oh, God.

[Kristin]

Right? So, like, Alyssa Turney's dad, like, doesn't want to give a formal interview to any of the cops. When he's talking to anybody, he's glib, he's sarcastic, he's showing no emotion. This dad, Jim, is like, I couldn't get to the police station fast enough. Drag me into the polygraph machine.

[Patrick]

He slept outside just to be there early so he wouldn't be late to take the poly to be helpful.

[Kristin]

Exactly. Like, come on.

[Patrick]

That, to me is like, where is the humanity exactly in this?

[Kristin]

Right. Right.

[Patrick]

So it's February 1985. Angela, who's married to miserable Steve, is working at the church that everyone goes.

[Kristin]

To as a janitor.

[Patrick]

And Angela's like, I have to tell you, like, I am not overselling this. She said her life, it was very, very hard. They were very, very poor.

[Kristin]

He had, like, a car dealership where he would buy insurance totals and fix up the cars. Like, they were struggling. They've got two young kids. I mean, like, life was very, very hard for them.

[Patrick]

So they're at church. Everyone is sort of like, that's where the social life is. That's where Angela's working. Like, everyone's at church. One day, the pastor is just like, hey, everyone, I heard from God, good news.

[Angela]

The Lord says that Janelle is going to be safely returned and reunited with her family. Steve was sitting to my left, and all of a sudden he says, false prophet. And he stands up and he says, false prophet again.

[Patrick]

Screaming false prophet and making a scene. Now, look, I will never, ever defend Steve, ever. Yeah, but he's not wrong here.

[Kristin]

Right?

[Patrick]

This is mean and irresponsible and cruel to do. And we're not Honoring Janelle in any way.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

By doing this bullshit at church.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

Yeah. And it's also just like, Steve, like, you're just not trying to get away with this, I guess.

[Patrick]

No, not at all.

[Kristin]

You know what I mean?

[Patrick]

Not at all. Which is, like, very. I mean, I would love to talk to Dr. Ann Burgess about this specifically, but, like, pastors and people and like that stand up in front of the congregation. Don't do this because it's cruel and it's not right to Janelle and the spirit of Janelle and her family and friends and loved ones.

[Kristin]

Yeah, well, they also. He's so loud, they've got to wrestle him out of the church.

[Patrick]

Escorted out of the church. This guy has never been in four walls that he's invited to stay into. He's kicked out of every single establishment he goes into, whether. Whether it's his parents or the church or anywhere else.

[Kristin]

He's like, golden at daycare.

[Patrick]

Golden at daycare.

[Kristin]

The only reason golden gets kicked out of daycare is because he jumps over the fences.

[Patrick]

Jumps.

[Kristin]

He just. Because what he does. You know what he. Why he does, he attaches to one of the workers. And if that worker takes a break, golden will lose his shit. And golden can jump 8ft. He'll jump over the fence. And then he gets in trouble, and then I get in trouble.

[Patrick]

Well, it's parenting for you.

[Kristin]

You're right. You're absolutely.

[Patrick]

You know what I mean.

[Kristin]

But Angela is saying that, like, once again, she's like, of course this was insane behavior, but I couldn't ask him about it. I was too scared. It was too. It was too unsafe.

[Patrick]

She's also mortified because the church is, like, the main hub of her life. And her job, it's where she works, and everyone like, oh, my God, there's Steve getting escorted out because. Screaming false prophet. And now, again, Angela is more isolated. She can't say anything. And now, like, you know, Steve is a nightmare who rules by fear. So what are you going to do? Like, she's just walking on eggshells. Like, whatever. Softer than an eggshell.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

You know what I mean? And now it's like, the more he has an outburst like this, it makes her qu. Because she's gonna be next, right? Pack the car or you're next. Get my sandwich or you're next. Do this or you're next. And so she's just sort of this, like, shell of a person.

[Kristin]

So now we meet Eileen. She's a family friend. I love her. When she first heard the rumor that it could be Jim the dad. She was absolutely furious, furious at the idea that anybody would think that Jim could do that to his wife.

[Patrick]

Right. Janelle didn't run away, and Jim didn't do anything.

[Kristin]

Exactly. And so she's like, I had to do something beyond what the police were doing or not doing, because Janelle's been.

[Patrick]

Missing for 49 days.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So it's like, enough already. Something has to be done.

[Kristin]

And some. This always happens. Some hero always comes to the front, and she's like, I'm gonna be the one to organize everything. She's like, she organizes the family, the friends, the community members.

[Patrick]

We had tens of thousands of posters printed. We were mailing them overseas. We started calling networks and trying to get the word out. Greely and the whole city wanted to do something to help. We were going after the world. They're calling every network, they're calling every radio station, every newspaper, doing absolutely everything. And eventually Eileen's like, you know who we should call? The President of the United States.

[Kristin]

Right to the top.

[Patrick]

Like, we should call the president. And she goes, the White House has a phone. Like, let's just call it.

[Kristin]

Which is so funny. I was like, I guess I've never considered that.

[Patrick]

And I'm like, fuck yes.

[Kristin]

Fuck, yes, Eileen.

[Patrick]

You know who's call the president.

[Kristin]

Call the president. And you know what? It fucking works.

[Patrick]

So March 7, 1985, 77 days missing. President Ronald Reagan is on. I know, but. But he's on television talking about the missing children in this country. He says Janelle's name, which is huge. He never talked about the AIDS crisis or said anyone's name in that vein, but he says Janelle Matthews of Greeley, Colorado.

[Kristin]

Now, the thing is, it's good in the sense that he's talking about missing children. It's bad in the sense that all this does is remember when she was getting the local news reports and that was making it. So they were getting 7 billion phone calls to the police station. This is that times a zillion. Because now with. And they say, like, calls were coming in from all over the world because Reagan said her name, and not a single one led to any usable clue.

[Patrick]

Or tip well, because the name of this documentary is the Girl on the Milk Carton.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So right after he does this, the president does this, the milk carton campaign starts. And, like, some, like, similar projects try to locate missing kids, and it's about keeping their images in the public eye. And I was like, why did it stop? So I googled It.

[Kristin]

Why did it stop?

[Patrick]

It stopped for a lot of reasons. One, legal issues about who could post a child's photo on a mill carton.

[Kristin]

Oh.

[Patrick]

It was causing a lot of emotional distress because kids were terrified. Parents are traumatized. Oh, God.

[Kristin]

We're just trying to do a good thing.

[Patrick]

And there was, like, no success. Like, nothing. It didn't help. It hurt more than it helps.

[Kristin]

Is that right?

[Patrick]

Yeah. So, like, it says, there's. There was, like, no data on how many missing children. Like, and it was just causing a lot of strife and, like, stranger danger and all of this stuff. And so, like, it was a visible aspect of the movement, but, like, did it actually help the movement? No.

[Kristin]

Oh, wow. Because it's so famous.

[Patrick]

It's, like, so famous.

[Kristin]

Wow.

[Patrick]

And so it says that the practice had begun to fade by the late 80s, and then the Amber Alert system happened in the 90s. So by April 29, 1985, Janelle is missing for 130 days. But now everyone's seeing Janelle everywhere. Like, she's all over the country according to these tips. And no leads come from this. And because it's doing more harm than good. Again, that's one of the reasons we don't have the faces on the milk carton anymore.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

But, like, someone in town had to know something, Right?

[Kristin]

And, well, someone in town did.

[Patrick]

And then I'm like, speaking of horrible, Steve, let's go back to 1978.

[Kristin]

Yeah. So we're back with Angela. We learned the Angela and Steve backstory. So they got married in October 1978. And then she said, and this is what we always hear. Things started to change very quickly once they got married.

[Patrick]

He's constantly having Angela do things for him, things he should be doing.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

And we get this horrifying story that, like, they have this storage unit, and he sends her there to get his welding rods. And he says her, make sure you make sure that unit is locked tight. Make sure you lock it up before you leave. The padlock, of course, is too big for her.

[Patrick]

It's an enormous. And again, why you lock in the storage unit?

[Kristin]

What's in the storage unit, Steve? What's in there, girl?

[Patrick]

But it's a huge padlock, like, enormous. And it's too big for Angela to maneuver. So she kind of just does her best right now. That day, Steve actually does something for himself for once. Going to the storage unit to, like, check and make sure Angela did everything right.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And because she couldn't think about how enormous a padlock has to be, I Know that you can't maneuver it by yourself.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

Her as the wife. The assumption is that, like, whatever, like, I couldn't do it, he'll fix it when he comes back. No big deal.

[Patrick]

But not really, because that's something that she can get in trouble for.

[Kristin]

Well, but I think this is when the trouble starts. I think she might not necessarily have known what was coming yet.

[Patrick]

Fine. Yeah.

[Kristin]

Because. So she says that, like, he comes back.

[Angela]

The next thing I knew, he had that big, heavy padlock in his hand, and he just slammed that and my face. And the next thing I knew, I was on the pavement.

[Kristin]

He hits her in the face with it.

[Patrick]

Yeah. He knocks her out. He knocks her to the ground, knocked.

[Kristin]

Her to the ground. Then he realizes that other people could have seen what he did. He's kicking her in the back, telling her to get up, get in the car. She's covered in blood.

[Patrick]

She's like. She describes, like, she's on the ground, like, tasting blood. It's just. It's. It's.

[Kristin]

But it doesn't end there. He puts her in the car. She says they drive out to Red Feather Lakes, which is where her dad has a cabin. This rustic, off the grid cabin. She said there's no water, there's no.

[Patrick]

Food, no heat or electricity. No.

[Kristin]

He takes her there, puts her inside and tells her to stay in and not leave. And then he leaves. And she has no idea how long she's gonna be imprisoned there.

[Patrick]

Completely isolated, no way to contact anyone. He leaves her there for five days with no food.

[Kristin]

Like, what did she do?

[Patrick]

She's just, like, suffering psychologically and physically. She has all of these injuries from. Because he beat her.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And he finally comes back, has a bunch of groceries with him and says, make me something to eat. I know.

[Kristin]

After him five days.

[Patrick]

I hate him.

[Kristin]

She says this was a sign of things to come for the rest of the marriage.

[Patrick]

Now she is, of course, terrified of him. And he's saying. He's reinforcing the saying, oh, I own you. Yes, we're married. You belong to me. And this is how it's going to be forever now.

[Kristin]

And she thinks there's no way of ever getting out of it.

[Patrick]

Because Angela says not only does he get scarier and more controlling, and he makes her more silent and more isolated. He's threatening her.

[Angela]

He told me, if you're thinking about leaving me, you're gonna watch me shoot both boys. Then I'm gonna shoot you. Then I'm gonna kill myself. Is that what you want? Is that what you want?

[Kristin]

I'm gonna make you watch me shoot both boys. Then I'll shoot you, then I'll kill myself.

[Patrick]

And I'm like, can you just do the last one?

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

Can you just kill yourself and make the world a better place? Cause honestly, what the fuck are you doing here?

[Kristin]

Truly, like, when you are Angela in that situation, you have no money. Nothing is your own. These kids are so young, like you just staring down the barrel of the rest of, like, this is the rest of my life.

[Patrick]

And at that point, the isolated cabin is a welcome change.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

Because you get some peace from this person.

[Kristin]

Ugh. Well, that's how episode one ends. So we're on episode two. It's called Monster Revealed. We jump forward to July 2019. Janelle has been missing for 34 years. And we're here with Detective Robert, and we hear him say, like, it took took decades, but we found her.

[Patrick]

Right?

[Kristin]

So we don't know if they found her dead or alive, but we know that they in 2019, they find her.

[Patrick]

Travel down the road, back again, girl.

[Kristin]

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[Patrick]

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[Kristin]

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[Patrick]

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[Kristin]

No, I've said this a lot. I've been on the GLP1s for over a year. Completely changed my life. Over the course of a year, with diet and exercise included, I've lost over 80 pounds. Wow. So, I mean, it really has been absolutely life changing. And isn't it nice to have access to it 1,000,000%? So fam. Hers will connect you with a medical provider who will create a personal, personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs. And if prescribed, you'll get the medication as part of a doctor developed weight loss program, including ongoing care and online support at no additional cost. The checking in with the doctor and the online support really will make all the difference.

[Patrick]

Yeah, you got it. You're doing something medical. You got to check in with a professor.

[Kristin]

You will have questions and you will have setbacks. You need both the doctor care and the online, like community care.

[Patrick]

And you want to make sure everything's working well.

[Kristin]

It's a new thing.

[Patrick]

You're Putting in your body. You have to have those checkups.

[Steve]

Yep.

[Patrick]

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[Kristin]

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[Patrick]

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[Kristin]

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[Patrick]

Good. Feels nice, right?

[Angela]

It does.

[Patrick]

You'll switch a room. So now we jump back to 2013. Detective Robert Cash has been assigned Janelle's case. He's also friends with her sister Jennifer from high school. They've known each other since ninth grade.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

And Jennifer's like, oh, cool. I guess, like, it's been so long, she's not expecting anything from it. I guess she's like, okay. Like, this guy I from high school is, you know, he's been handed my sister's case after 30 years.

[Kristin]

I mean, after 30 years, you. I guess you just do that thing where you just cannot expect anything good is going to happen in the case.

[Patrick]

Well, then Robert's like, well, Jennifer, that's where you're wrong. I'm not going to fail at this. Like, it's just not going to happen.

[Kristin]

He says, you don't understand. This case lives in the hall of the Greeley police Department. Everyone in the police department knew the family. They all worked on the case. This is the case that, like, they all want to solve. They care so deeply about this.

[Patrick]

So now we jump back to 1999 with Angela and awful Steve. Angela is cleaning houses, and they were renting a house from one of her clients.

[Kristin]

They got married in 1978. He's been abusing her for 21 years.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So now Steve is not paying their rent because he needs a lawyer because the cops are asking him about Janelle Matthews.

[Kristin]

Yeah. And he tells her that. And Angela says, I was in complete shock. This was the first time Janelle's name came up in 10 years.

[Patrick]

Because again, dear listener, I'm watching this, and I'm like, he's getting questioned for the disappearance of Janelle Matthews. And I'm like, what?

[Kristin]

In 1999, I know.

[Patrick]

Angela says, what? And then Steve, the Violent and controlling nightmare replies.

[Angela]

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.

[Kristin]

There's that expression about your blood running cold. That is the one and only time in my life it actually happened to me.

[Patrick]

But at the same time, the blood runs cold and something clicks, right? And she's like, Steve is involved in this, right?

[Kristin]

She says all those autocratic, that quick trip to Big Bear, the dogs being, quote, dumped the car on fire, screaming, false prophet at church. She's like, in that moment, that all took on a new meaning for me.

[Patrick]

Right? So now we're doing a lot of time jumps here. But now, like in 2019, Detective Mike is like, can I be honest with everyone here? I'm just gonna be super blunt. This investigation has been a mess from day one. A lot of missed opportunities, not a lot of following up happening. For example, yeah, that weird call from that supposed pastor in 1985, Pastor Penky, where it says, oh, someone confessed. But oh no, so sorry, I' I'm a pastor, I can't say anything. And then two days later, peace be with you. Don't worry about it. Forget I ever called. Yeah, it's Steve Penky. It's creepy, horrible, abusive Steve, right?

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

Which is, it's confusing because you're like, oh, wait, he's a pastor? I didn't. Like, we never have heard of him as a pastor before. But the guy who made that tip back when like the week Janelle went missing was Steve. Bad Steve.

[Patrick]

Yeah. Because he's also naming Russell Ross as a suspect. Russell Ross is Janelle's best friend's dad. The last man to see her alive. And Steve hates Ross, right?

[Kristin]

Because like Steve used to work for Ross. So like Steve is trying to like pin the murder of Janelle, which he probably did, on Russ, the guy that.

[Patrick]

He hates, his boss or whatever.

[Kristin]

Exactly.

[Patrick]

So the cops give the cops like call Russ in and they're like, hey, Russ, we gotta talk to you again. And the minute they're like, do you know a guy named Steve Panky? And he's like, oh, that asshole. Oh no, he worked for me. And he lied and said I beat him up. And he's been spreading all these lies about me. Like he's just a fucking nightmare.

[Kristin]

But the thing is, like, to us.

[Patrick]

He'S also not a pastor, by the way.

[Kristin]

Right? None of these people are pastors. But I love that detective Robert. He's like. Like the friend of Jennifer's the sister. Like, he's the one that's really in. Like, the new guy that's really invested in this. He doesn't really know that pinky is lying. He's just saying, like, wait a second. If Russ is talking shit about panky, maybe we can get pinky to tell us more about Russian.

[Patrick]

Something is weird. We got this phone call. They all hate each other. It seems to be bad blood for a long time. So April 8, 2019. Detective Robert calls Steve penky up. I'm like, what if you just call Taylor up? So it's like, ring, ring. Hello. Hey, I'm looking for Steve penky. Yay. Speaking. And he's like, hey, Steve, I'm working on the Janelle Matthews case. And Steve Penky's like, oh, my God, I have so much tea on Russell Ross.

[Kristin]

But he also immediately starts to sound like a terrified robot. Like, I feel like this is the call he's been waiting for all of.

[Patrick]

His life the entire time.

[Kristin]

He's like, okay, okay, okay. He's like, I can tell you something very interesting about Russell Ross. I am not, dot, dot, over the phone, dot, dot, dot, going to tell you anything specifics. Like, he's excited and terrified. This is it. This is the moment. Rex Ross. I know a whole lot about him.

[Patrick]

And the dark side.

[Kristin]

I'm very interested in what you know.

[Patrick]

I'm not going to say anything until I have a firm deal that can't be broken. I'm not saying anything until I have a deal firmly in place. And they're like, a deal for what?

[Kristin]

Why would you need it?

[Patrick]

What are you talking about?

[Kristin]

Right.

[Patrick]

So let's go back to 1999 when it's all coming together for Angela.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

She's starting to look for clues. She goes, it became a quest for me, which I love. Now she. She's going through all, like, the document, like, all of Steve's stuff. And he has a lot of stuff because he's in the middle of a lot of lawsuits. Yes, People are suing him. He's suing other people. And I'm like, what kind of life is this? I know to deliberately be miserable and evil. Like, put up some tinsel, asshole. You'll feel better. Like, he hates celebrating. He's abusive.

[Steve]

He's mean.

[Patrick]

He's suing. He's litigious, and he's being sued. Like, what a nightmare.

[Kristin]

All I want for Christmas came out the Year before, you know, it's all over the radio. Just turn it up. But Angela hits the mother load because she finds a piece of paper full of this, like, haphazard, crazy handwriting from Steve. And it says some really important things. It says, pastoral privilege, Janelle. Remember, he said, like, that was his reason why he couldn't explain the confession that that person made to him. But then the big one, it says, janelle dead before crossing 10th street in Greeley.

[Patrick]

10Th street is where they live in. This is the right. Why is he writing this all down?

[Kristin]

I don't know. But, like, to me, like that. I mean, obviously this is a confession to the fact that he took her from the house and killed her almost immediately after kidnapping her, right? And then Angela finds a ripped up piece of that, like, yellow legal paper.

[Angela]

I could see on one of the piece of papers that it said Janelle Matthews. So I put that piece of paper back together, and on that document, it said the snow outside the Matthews home was raped.

[Patrick]

Remember how we said there were all these footprints in the snow, but they were raked as if they were trying to be destroyed? And nobody knew that, right?

[Kristin]

It was held back. Nobody. So, like, the cops are saying, this is the held back information. So we'll know the actual killer because they'll have that information.

[Patrick]

And which means that this guy wrote it down and saved it for 30 years. And even when he ripped up a piece of paper, had saved it, right?

[Kristin]

So Angela smuggles these papers out of the house in her shoe. And she walks right down to the police station where she talks to the police chief. She tells him everything. And they say to her two things. You gotta get out of this marriage. He's gonna kill you. And they also say, like, you gotta send this to the Greeley police because.

[Patrick]

They'Re living in Idaho. So she goes to the police in Idaho and tells them everything that we know. Like the car ride on Christmas, wanting to hear Russ Ross's name on the. All the abuse, the false prophet, like, all of that stuff. So 1990, the Greeley police, like, have all that info, right?

[Kristin]

Right.

[Patrick]

Angela's waiting for them to contact her, right? One, for justice. And two, so she can finally leave the abusive marriage. Because she's waiting for, like, those wheels to be put in place because she can't leave without that, right? So this never happens.

[Kristin]

The Greeley police never call her.

[Patrick]

Now, cut a few Years later to 2002, Angela is trying to. She's like, fuck it. I can't wait for the cops anymore. I Need to get out of here. She tries to get her own lawyer. She can't. Every lawyer in town is a conflict because everyone is suing this guy.

[Kristin]

Yeah. And she finally is insane. It's totally insane. But she finally is able to find an attorney that will work with her. She takes the kids and she leaves. They get an order of protection against.

[Patrick]

Steve for her and her two sons.

[Kristin]

For her and the kids. And she's saying, so far, he still doesn't know that she talked to the police. And if he ever found out, he would definitely kill her.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And of course it does. It kind of doesn't matter because Idaho cops did nothing. And no one is calling Angela anyway.

[Kristin]

Should we take a significant left turn here?

[Patrick]

Oh, my God.

[Kristin]

2014. We jumped to 2014. Steve Pankey is running for governor of Idaho.

[Patrick]

He wants to be your next Republican governor of Idaho. 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. I'm sorry, what?

[Kristin]

Young and ugly, I welcome your vote. Fuck off. What a piece of shit.

[Patrick]

Together we can make a safe, prosperous, and moral Idaho. Really? We can do that? We can do that.

[Kristin]

Steve, this guy has so many skeletons. How on earth do you think that you're gonna run for governor when you've got a wife with an order of protection against you?

[Patrick]

I mean, look at. This is where the smugness comes out. I mean, he just is the worst. So finally, finally, finally, finally, finally. By 2019, Angela gets a phone call from Robert Cash, Sister Jennifer's friend, but.

[Kristin]

Not because he's read her statement and all the stuff that she gave them. They're just trying to call the ex wife of the guy they think did this.

[Patrick]

Angela's like, great. So you have everything from the report I filed 25 years ago. And it's crickets.

[Kristin]

Pin drop.

[Patrick]

And he's like, what? And I'm like, where did it all go? Like, who has that?

[Kristin]

And he, like, he said. Robert is saying to us now, I had no idea what she was talking about. Because like, he says to her, do you know the Janelle Matthews case? She's like, very, very, very, very.

[Patrick]

Well, yes.

[Kristin]

You know, and he's just like, okay, so sorry about this. Like, tell us what you know. And she is pissed because she put her life on the line for nothing to get this information to them. But she gets over it real fast.

[Patrick]

Well, they start working together, because now we have bigger fish to fry. So they're meeting, they're talking about everything.

[Kristin]

But I want some answers. I want to know who was responsible for receiving that information and then fucking lost it.

[Patrick]

Yeah, I just didn't call the other state.

[Kristin]

I thought this case lived in the halls of the police station, Robert. You know what I mean?

[Patrick]

It was Idaho. She walked into the cops in Idaho.

[Kristin]

Oh, so it's not like, really lost it. You're saying Idaho never sent.

[Patrick]

They never got it.

[Kristin]

Oh, I hope. I hope that's the case.

[Patrick]

So. But this biggest Bob shell, though, is.

[Kristin]

That 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. My blood pressure rose.

[Detective]

I'm like, oh, my God. Steve knew the holdback information because the.

[Patrick]

Public never knew that, ever. Even in 1999, from 1985 to now, nobody ever knew that part.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So he's the killer.

[Kristin]

He's gotta be the guy. So we cut to July 24, 2009, and detective, detective Robert calls the Matthews and he's saying, like, we gotta get to you before social media gets to you. And, like, that was such a mind fuck for me because she went missing in 1984 and now it's 2019. You know what I mean? She went missing in the era of, like, fucking E.T. and the Goonies. Like, this was so long before social media, and she's been missing for all of these years. And then it cuts to the mom and the mom says, I didn't want them to find a body. Like that is like that. That was so heartbreaking to me.

[Patrick]

Of course, like, you don't. This is. You want to know what happened to your daughter, but, like, you don't want it to be that.

[Kristin]

We found their remains, and the remains were found by an oil exploration crew that was like, digging up a field.

[Patrick]

30 minutes away from her home. Yeah, 30 minutes away.

[Kristin]

And the detective said before calling the family, of course he went to see the body. This is really bad, what I'm going to say, so if you want to turn it off or put the kids in the other room. And so the detective goes to see the body, and he says the skull had a gunshot through it. And he said he saw the braces and he knew that he had found Janelle. And. But this part, like, this part will haunt my dreams.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

He says because of the trajectory of the bullet, they think that she was on her knees looking up at the person who shot her.

[Patrick]

Yeah, it's absolutely horrifying. It's horrifying. And, like, you get that Phone call that you've been dreading but also waiting for in some weird way, for all of these decades. And the devastation comes back like it's 1984 all over again. Yeah.

[Kristin]

But these detectives, they've been living with this case since 1984. They are so fucking angry.

[Patrick]

And they're ready.

[Kristin]

And they're just ready. They're ready.

[Patrick]

So it's August 15, 2019. The cops, fire, finally go to speak to the killer, and they're acting their asses off, so. Because the killer can't believe they're at his front door. And he's like, are you gonna read me my rights? And they're like, girl, why? Oh, my God, that's so funny. You charged. We just drove nine hours out of our way to just say hi, just say hello. You're not even a suspect. Like, this is so silly. And again, he's like, okay, well, I want. Remember that deal? I want a deal. And the cops are like, girl, we can't do that. In order for us to give you a deal, you've had to have committed a crime, which we know you didn't do.

[Kristin]

But then they say, unless ste you.

[Detective]

Murdered Janelle, there's no crime you could have committed back then that we could arrest you for. Statute of limitations retorts. I need a deal. He's just told me, without saying it directly, I murdered Janell. And I'm not going to talk to you without a deal because that's a crime from 1984 that you can still arrest me for.

[Patrick]

The cops are like, okay, he just admitted it.

[Kristin]

He's telling them that he's the guy.

[Patrick]

And also like, asshole, you're not going to get a deal, you fucking idiot.

[Kristin]

Of course not.

[Patrick]

So the conversation goes nowhere except that the cops now know that he for sure killed Janelle. They just have to prove it.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So two weeks later, they come back to the house with a warrant. They're not so friendly.

[Kristin]

And we see the video. He's not home. Like, these search warrant videos are so creepy to me.

[Patrick]

This house is so weird. There's no furniture, no cat, no tv. It looks like four college guys lived there and moved in yesterday.

[Kristin]

Literally.

[Patrick]

Random shit everywhere. Papers all over the floor. However, this dude has his high school yearbook picture framed and hung up in his bedroom. It's the only thing on the wall.

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

What a fucking loser.

[Kristin]

I know. There's three cell phones, two laptops. They confiscate everything. Also, 14 handguns and a super expensive.

[Patrick]

Brand new gun safe.

[Kristin]

Like, oh, my God.

[Patrick]

But they say he was living in his own self imposed prison. He was doing this so that he wasn't leaving. He had everything he needed in the house. But now we're gonna dive into the search history because, remember, two laptops and three cell phones. So his search history, he searched for Janelle thousands, thousands of times.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And when Janelle's remains were found, this guy was on his computer for 36 hours straight. And they know it's not that the computer was left on. They can see every move of the mouse or the key strokes or whatever. Like you could see everything he did. He wasn't sleeping.

[Kristin]

He was 36 hours.

[Patrick]

And so they start looking into this guy and of course, like the 10,000 lawsuits come up, which means that there's paper trails of everything. Like, this is great for the space.

[Kristin]

And it's wild what he's saying in these documents. He's calling himself a master manipulator. He's writing to the Idaho Supreme Court saying, someday somebody's probably going to charge me with the Janelle Matthews murder and I'm going to get the death penalty for it, even though I didn't fucking.

[Patrick]

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. Colorado.

[Kristin]

Colorado.

[Patrick]

So he just wanted the attention so, so badly. He's so sick. He just couldn't wait to get caught. So now, by October 12, 2020, the killer is arrested and charged with the murder of Janelle Matthews. It's first de murder and kidnapping.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

When the Matthews family hears about it, they're like, who never fucking heard of this guy? So, like, this is the stranger in the backyard. This was a total crime of opportunity.

[Patrick]

But he knew, Ross.

[Kristin]

Yeah, he knew. And we'll get to that too. But like, he had to get there and he had to leave and nobody saw anything. I just don't understand how that happens.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So by 2021, the killer pleads not guilty. And Lacy Wells is here. She's the deputy da. It's her very first homicide trial. And she's like, look, this is a 40 year old. We have mountains and mountains of evidence. It is circumstantial. Like, we do have a lot of work ahead of us.

[Kristin]

Yeah. I mean, it's just so wild that, like, they have the body, but, like, they can't determine Other than, like, the gunshot in the head, they're saying, like, it's not gonna give us any forensic evidence. And she is saying, juries nowadays expect DNA. And I'm like, but, like, you've got the body, you can see that she was murdered. We've got so much fucking evidence of this guy. I mean, it's just wild.

[Patrick]

Yeah. But the killer won't shut up. So he wrote a book, not published, of course, called Graveyar, about a strapping young man named David Darkson who has a falling out with the Nazarene Church in Greeley, Colorado. Yeah, but, but, but in the book. In the book, this guy, who's obviously Steve the killer.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Has a grudge against a woman named Deborah Lynn Moon, which is interesting, because in real life, a woman named Deb Moon filed a sexual assault charge against the killer. And she also went to Nazarene Church, as did Russ Ross. Yeah.

[Kristin]

And like, we learned what he did to her. Like, he took her out into the middle of nowher and raped her for four hours.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Kristin]

And then the charges were dropped by the male DA because he said this is a he said, she said she.

[Patrick]

Was bullied into dropping the charges.

[Kristin]

And what happened is that his name.

[Angela]

Ended up in the newspaper and he got excommunicated from Sunnyview Nazarene Church. And then he starts spiraling in hatred, having members physically pick him up out of the congregation and forcibly remove him.

[Kristin]

So this whole thing is about him getting revenge on the members of this church.

[Patrick]

Right. Because Russ Ross really was the killer's former boss. And to the surprise of no one, they were engaged in a lawsuit.

[Kristin]

Right, Right.

[Patrick]

So this is very, very personal. So the theory is the killer hated Russ Ross for many documented reasons.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

Hated him, was obsessed with him. The killer was following Russ Ross, trying to find something that he can do and frame Russ Ross for.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

Saw that Janelle Matthews was alone, like.

[Kristin]

Following him on the night that Janelle Matthews was murdered.

[Patrick]

And he, like Janelle wasn't the target at first. Ross Ross was. And he was trying to look for a moment of opportunity, saw that Janelle Matthews was alone, took the opportunity to kill Janelle Matthews, and then slowly, after 40 years, kind of frame Russ Ross for her murder.

[Kristin]

What makes no sense to me is this is a very small town now. Now, remember, Russ Ross was driving Janelle home from a concert. So probably there's more people on the road than normally would have been it 8 o'clock at night or whatever. But, like, how did Russ Ross not know that he was being Followed. And then once Russ Ross left, we are never told how Steve Panky was able to pull his car somewhere close enough to the house that he was.

[Patrick]

Able to open the garage door, open.

[Kristin]

The garage door, sneak into the backyard, somehow overpower this, quote, feisty 13 year old girl who would have fought for her life to the death, get her into his car and take off. And the only witnesses are the dogs who heard something. Nobody saw or heard anything.

[Patrick]

Yeah, like we know he did this, we just, we don't know how.

[Kristin]

How.

[Patrick]

Yeah, we're at the trial now. So Angela, the ex wife, testifies.

[Angela]

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. Pinky perpetrated against you because it was overly prejudicial.

[Patrick]

She can't discuss the violence, she can't discuss the coercive control, she can't discuss her fear. I'm like, then what can she talk about?

[Kristin]

Right?

[Patrick]

So three weeks later, the trial is over, the jury deliberates for three days and it's a fucking mistrial.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Because like, honestly, based on what's presented at trial, you can understand the reasonable doubt. I'm not saying zero doubt.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

I'm saying you can maybe see the reasonable doubt.

[Kristin]

Maybe, maybe the jurors get hung up on the thing that we were just talking about, which is like, they can't prove that he was at the house.

[Patrick]

And we don't know what kind of guy he is because Angela can't say anything.

[Kristin]

Exactly.

[Patrick]

So.

[Kristin]

And also the dead moon testimony is also not allowed at this trial.

[Patrick]

So everyone is super bummed, but the prosecution's gonna try him again. But things are different this time because.

[Kristin]

He took the stand in his own defense in his first trial. All of the stuff that was excluded, he opened doors to. He would allude to it on the stand to sort of fuck with the prosecution, cuz he knew that they couldn't question him about it. But because he had done that for the second trial, it's all of it is allowed in.

[Patrick]

And he would say things like, well, you know, that's protected, so we can't talk about it. So he was really using that as a shield and he thought he could get away with it, but he ended up completely screwing himself over. Yes, because the killer, for example, painted Angela, his ex wife, as a quote, scorned woman.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

But that means that Lacy, the DA and her team can explain why she might be that way. She's not. But now that it's like, oh, she's crazy. Now we can get into the psychological abuse and dive into that which they couldn't bring up the first time.

[Kristin]

And also, Deb Moon is allowed to testify, so we're able to hear about his behavior before he was with Angela. Then Angela allowed to testify to all of the abuse, plus all of the. All of the evidence that she found, where he's basically talking about stalking Janelle before she even died.

[Patrick]

Because the killer. I mean, this guy is out of his fucking mind.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

The killer filed a complaint against the cops in 1985. And in this, again, he writes everything down. He saves everything. Like a lawsuit. That's like legal documents, like, that lives forever. That's a record.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And he writes that he knows that two cops live on the same street as Janelle Matthews. And you're like, how would you know that?

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

How many of these people are you stalking? How would you know that?

[Kristin]

That he. According to the documentary, he wrote that before Janelle died, they make the point to say, so now we're able to.

[Detective]

Tell the jury that Panky was conducting surveillance in Janelle's neighborhood before she passed away.

[Kristin]

Not only did he know where she lived, he was stalking her before she died. So she was some kind of target for him.

[Patrick]

Plus all of the handwritten notes that Angela had, like, dated and writing down all this stuff that no one in the public could have known. Unless you're the killer.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

So it's October 7, 2022, the second trial starts, and when Deb Moon, the woman he assaulted, testifies. It is unbelievable. She destroys him on the stand. And at one point, she stared him down and he looked away first, which is just unbelievable. And Angela takes the stand again. And finally she can be fully honest.

[Kristin]

Right.

[Patrick]

And these women take down this horrible person, and the killer is convicted. Guilty of kidnapping, guilty of murder.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

And he gets life in prison.

[Patrick]

As we're winding down here, Janelle's and family are saying, like, Janelle was only on this earth for a little less than 13 years, but she was, like, amazing.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

I mean, that really broke my heart. The dad said if she were alive today, she would be making us so proud. We only had her for a little less than 13 years. And I just, like, burst into sobs.

[Patrick]

And Jennifer says, like, I had a sister, and her name was Janelle. And I think, you know, that made me think, like, the name of this documentary is even, like, the girl in the milk carton. Like, where is Janelle in this?

[Kristin]

I know.

[Patrick]

And so I'M so glad that we came back to that with Jennifer. And then Gloria, her mom.

[Kristin]

Oh, I'm so glad you're going to say this, because I wrote down every word.

[Patrick]

She's just talking about what it's like to be Gloria.

[Angela]

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 Bosch, and.

[Patrick]

I like that he's gonna die in prison. And I like that.

[Kristin]

I like that.

[Patrick]

Like that is something. Like that is peace for her, that he's. The world is a better place when he's not in it.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Kristin]

And I couldn't agree more.

[Patrick]

And Angela, again, like, all these women. Oh, my God. Angela says, like, for the first time, she finally feels safe because what Angela did, Angela took her life in her hands.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

Imagine being Angela. You go to the Idaho police, you tell everything, and this controlling, horribly abusive, violent person could maybe find out at any time. What if they showed up at his job and said, you're under arrest? Or what if he was able to, like, living. She has been living in fear maybe her entire life.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Patrick]

And so to finally not feel that way. But what she did for Janelle and for Deb is like, is huge. It's huge. It's amazing.

[Kristin]

Oh, my God, girl. We did the girl in the milk carton.

[Patrick]

I know about Janelle Matthews.

[Kristin]

Really sad story.

[Patrick]

I know.

[Kristin]

I'm so glad the family got peace in the end.

[Patrick]

Yeah. You don't have to forgive anybody.

[Kristin]

You don't. But you do have to come to drag Bingo tomorrow night. If you're hearing this the day that it comes out. Drag bingo tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 11, with the amazing Schwab. It's so, so, so much fun.

[Patrick]

It's so fun. We have a grand old time.

[Kristin]

It's growing every month. It's for everybody at the five dollar tier and above on Patreon. If you're. You're on the tier and you haven't tried it, just try it. If you're available, come check it out. You're gonna have a great time.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Kristin]

Before we go, girl, I want to remind the people we've got a TCO book club now. It is.

[Patrick]

I was gonna say raring to go, but it is thriving. It's been going.

[Kristin]

It's been going for a couple of months. And really there's like, nothing you need to do to join. All you gotta do is get into the Facebook group, look at the featured posts. Like, they used to call them pin posts, but now they're like featured posts.

[Patrick]

Yeah, Sasha has it all going on.

[Kristin]

Sasha's got it all going on. Just get in there, let them know that you're interested. Let. Let me tell you the upcoming books we're doing, fam. So for January, girl, did you know this? They're doing Life After Death by Tamian Echols.

[Patrick]

Yeah. Well, everyone votes on the books, so there's just like a selection of books and everyone voted. So. Yeah, that's exciting.

[Kristin]

And the book club meeting for that is gonna be on January 26th at 2pm Eastern. And then in February, we're doing Zodiac.

[Patrick]

Oh, Gracemode.

[Kristin]

The Grace Smith Zodiac book. I was like, can we do that? Cause I'm reading it and I wanna talk about it.

[Patrick]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Kristin]

And then in March, they're doing a killer design by Dr. Ann Burches.

[Patrick]

I know. I said to Sasha, I was like, if you're taking six suggestions for the thing we should do Dr. Amberges.

[Kristin]

So here's the deal, fam. Just get in the group, let them know that you're interested. Sasha will let you know when the meetings are. It's once a month, if you can make it. If not, we can also just talk about it in the group. But we're gonna make this more of a thing. We're kind of figuring out how we're getting it going, but right now that's what we're doing.

[Patrick]

Perfect.

[Kristin]

TCO Book club.

[Patrick]

Happy reading, everybody.

[Kristin]

Happy reading. What are we doing next, girl?

[Patrick]

Fanatical. The catfishing of Tegan and Sarah.

[Kristin]

Oh, man, you got some feelings about this.

[Patrick]

I have a lot of feelings about it. I really do. And I've been in my DMs. The listeners also do.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Have thoughts and feelings. I just. I will dive into it.

[Kristin]

Listen that Closer song. I listened to that on a repeat.

[Patrick]

For the you and everyone else in 2007 or whatever.

[Kristin]

I was obsessed with that song.

[Patrick]

But we'll unpack some things.

[Kristin]

Yeah, all right. I'm looking forward to it. Okay, so stay tuned for the trailer for that, my loves. And that's it. We love you.

[Patrick]

All right. We love you. Stay safe out there.

[Kristin]

All right, Bye.

[Patrick]

Bye. Tegan and Sarah were known as being very accessible.

[Kristin]

He messaged Tegan and we got a response.

[Patrick]

It was very exciting. Tegan added me as a friend on Facebook. I had become friends with Tegan and it had become a long term friendship. At some point, she sent me a shared drive and a password. It felt off. So I reached out to her management. I got a text that said, she has no idea who you are. And I said, well, then Tegan has a big problem.

[Kristin]

In the beginning, we thought it was just a leak of a demo. And then we realized this hacker had access to Tegan and Sarah's personal information.

[Patrick]

This whole new, really scary universe opened up. I said.

[Kristin]

Fake Tegan knew where we all lived. Email addresses had been hacked. They shared passport scans and knew their mom's medical history.

[Patrick]

It introduced the idea that it's someone we know coming after our friends, me and my girlfriend. That just made me question everyone around me. It was terrifying and scary. I was paranoid.

[Kristin]

The fear, of course, was the sort of physical safety.

[Patrick]

It got darker when we realized multiple fans had been catfished online and thought that they were talking to me.