00:00:00
[Music] [Applause] where's Janelle do you know where Janelle is I wonder what happened to that 12-year-old
00:00:14
little girl everybody was looking for Janelle what happened and why nearly 37 years after young girl
00:00:24
vanished from her home in gy the trial underway in the Janelle Matthews murder case ladies and gentlemen for 37 years
00:00:31
Justice for Janelle has been denied that Chang is beginning today let's talk about December 20th
00:00:40
1984 my mom was going to California to visit her family for Christmas and I had a basketball game that night my dad
00:00:48
dropped my sister off at the choir concert and he came and watched my game Janelle needed a ride home so she hopped
00:00:56
in our truck and we took her home my dad waited until he saw her for a flick on the light that was our sign that she
00:01:02
made it inside and everything's fine I came home and you could tell Janelle had been there I yelled out hi
00:01:10
Janelle Janelle are you there no answer I got home probably between 9:30 and 10: Jennifer do you know where
00:01:21
Janelle is and I said no she should be here was there anything out of place in the house not to
00:01:27
me I'm starting to feel real uneasy I called the police and told them that my daughter was missing and they did
00:01:35
uncover some [Music] Footprints I called home and he said I just have to tell you
00:01:44
[Music] something we can't find jel I just had a sick feeling to my stomach tell me a little bit about J
00:02:00
just sweet bubbly fun so kind so nice always seemed to kind of be the life of the party and you always knew Janelle
00:02:09
was around years go by 5 years 10 years 20 years 30 years the police were working
00:02:21
like hell to get this case cleared we just had to wait 35 years Janelle was finally found a
00:02:28
bulldozer operator uncovered the bones more than 20 mil from her old home I didn't want that to be
00:02:36
Jal I really wanted to not know the discovery of her body was not the end of the story this is Steve Panky
00:02:47
Panky is a person of interest in a homicide out of Colorado I've never met Janelle Matthews he's run for governor
00:02:54
never met her never talked to her he ran for Sheriff never heard of Janelle Matthews he likes to talk he's a
00:03:02
talkative guy I voluntarily gave my DNA but he's not a murderer I want to hear what he has to
00:03:10
say about that [Music] night could you please state your name and spell your last name Steven Dana
00:03:20
Panky when you heard that Panky was going to take the stand how did you react I was so surprised and CBS fors KY
00:03:27
worthman is watching the trial as it all unfolds and joins us now from The Newsroom you don't often have a person
00:03:35
who is being charged with murder to take the stand I did some things that were wrong did you ever think this case would
00:03:46
end this way I didn't I did not see this coming we the jury find the defendant Steven Dana Pinky
00:03:55
[Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] the evidence in this case will prove that the defendant is guilty of murder
00:04:42
in the first degree and second degree kidnapping it had been nearly four decades since December 20th
00:04:50
1984 when Janelle Matthews just 12 years old was kidnapped from her home and murder do you sound me swear and now now
00:04:59
her parents were finally in a courtroom desperate for answers she could have been lured out of the house uh in
00:05:08
gullible because she's 12 years old this was a moment that this community had been waiting for a long
00:05:15
time Kelly worthman is a reporter and anchor for Denver's CBS station kcnc people were ready but it was
00:05:24
intense it's a case that has haunted the small Colorado city of really we all lived with our front doors
00:05:33
open we rode our bikes a lot around town Janelle Matthew's friends Darla Jen and
00:05:39
Deanna Ross remember growing up with Janelle we had sleepovers birthday parties we just had a big group of
00:05:47
friends gy is the kind of town Realtors like to call a great place to raise kids
00:05:53
I'm so fortunate that we were neighbors but just 5 days before Christmas gy learned it could not hide from Evil
00:06:02
12-year-old Janelle Matthews disappeared from her grey home it's believed she's the victim of a kidnapping it was such a
00:06:10
mystery this whole thing happened just like that Darla lost her childhood friend do you remember being afraid oh
00:06:19
yeah I remember being afraid as a community it it rocked gayy Janelle Matthews will turn 13 in 2 weeks
00:06:27
no one knows where she'll spend her birthday you would be the last people to whom
00:06:33
something like this would happen I would think [Music] yeah Jim and Gloria Matthews had moved
00:06:43
to gy just six years earlier to raise their young daughters Jennifer we were happy and Janelle were you a close
00:06:52
family definitely Gloria was working at a restaurant and I was an elementary principal we were very inv involed in
00:06:59
our church and we just had a very full life at least they did until that night December 20th that's when Janelle went
00:07:10
to sing in a school choir concert she was interested in any kind of Performing thing afterward she got a ride home with
00:07:18
Deanna Ross and Deanna's father that was about 8:00 p.m. and you drove off thinking what that I'd see her the next
00:07:27
day at school I came home by myself Jim Matthews recalls arriving home at about 9:30
00:07:38
p.m. and found that his daughter wasn't there did it occur to you that maybe she
00:07:44
had run away no because I know my daughter well enough that number one it's Christmas time she loves presents
00:07:53
she just loves the whole festivities of Christmas at first he thought Janelle was at a friend's house but after
00:07:59
calling around and waiting about a half hour to an hour Jim says he called police they sent two or three detectives
00:08:08
out and started searching the house for Clues I remember that night like it was yesterday Grey's Mayor John Gates was 27
00:08:19
years old at the time and a police officer he was called to the scene my assignment that night was going around
00:08:26
the neighborhood knocking on doors asking they had seen or heard anything suspicious that evening no one had seen
00:08:34
or heard anything and the Matthews home which was now a crime scene offered few Clues the only physical evidence were
00:08:43
those footprints in the fresh snow they were found just outside the house and there was something odd about them
00:08:52
whoever did it tried to rake their Footprints and he was using what a garden rake yeah right out of my garage
00:08:58
yeah oh to cover the up yeah yeah peculiar huh yes there were no fingerprints and
00:09:06
if there was DNA law enforcement was still several years from being able to analyze
00:09:13
it with nothing else to go on investigators focused on Jim Matthews himself what was it like for you to be
00:09:21
considered a suspect in your daughter's disappearance for the longest time I knew exactly what were doing and
00:09:30
I respected it he even agreed to a lie detector test with an FBI agent the number one interrogator west of the
00:09:37
Mississippi Jim says the agent told him he failed I just kept telling him I listen I'm telling you the truth I'm
00:09:45
telling you everything I know then I had another one with the local police that's
00:09:50
when I started losing it I said listen I have been very honest I've been accessible to you anytime you wanted but
00:09:57
I'm getting sick of this because I am innocent Matthews was eventually cleared leaving no suspects or leads a group of
00:10:07
Grey residents worked hard to keep Janelle's story alive the rescue Janelle committee made all kinds of things
00:10:16
happen they made headlines Janelle became one of the first missing children whose photo appeared on milk cartons
00:10:23
Across America I learned about jonell Matthews of gy Colorado and even President Ronald Reagan got involved he
00:10:32
mentioned Janelle in a speech about missing children 5 days before Christmas jonell disappeared from her
00:10:41
[Music] home but Janelle's family and friends could only attract that kind of attention for so long with no real
00:10:50
evidence of what happened to the 12-year-old the case went cold but Janelle was far from forgotten
00:10:58
everywhere we R I was always looking for her I always had hope that I would find her in my
00:11:09
dreams she always came home you know she always came home I love this picture but in reality
00:11:20
there was no sign of Janelle I like that picture to a major development to tell you about
00:11:27
in a mystery that is more than three decades old and then on the 23rd of July 2019 nearly 35 years after Janelle's
00:11:37
disappearance police finally had that breaking news to share wow it was a complete shock a crew
00:11:46
digging a pipeline in a remote stretch of land just southeast of gy had discovered human remains with a gunshot
00:11:55
wound to the Head they were confirmed by the coroner to be those of jonel Matthews it was Agony for Janelle's
00:12:05
mother Gloria who could no longer hope her daughter would come home we are going to know that she was
00:12:16
murdered the question was who killed Janelle I heard that a girl was missing from gley Colorado Police might have
00:12:25
been closer to An Answer than they knew I lived in gley Colorado this man Steve Panky was once a candidate for governor
00:12:35
of Idaho I am one of the people who wants to represent you he was a person who sure was interested in the case I
00:12:45
contacted the FBI and made himself I knew more than I wanted to know okay A Person of Interest I told the FBI I want
00:12:55
to talk to you it may or may not have something to do with the Janelle Matthews [Music]
00:13:13
case in September 2019 just weeks after discovering the remains of 12-year-old Janelle Matthews
00:13:21
the case that had been so cold for so long quickly heated up authorities searched to home in Twin
00:13:30
Falls Idaho they've got full SWAT gear on they've got rifles and they're pointing him at me it belonged to Steven
00:13:41
Panky tonight's top story his house was searched by the twinfalls police department in a matter of days the
00:13:47
search was all over the news but not because police were talking don't spit in my face don't accuse me it was Steven
00:13:56
Panky who started talking I've never met Janelle Matthews to just about anyone who would listen I've never met anybody
00:14:03
in her family including CBS affiliate kmvt make sure the viewers he that I voluntarily gave my
00:14:13
DNA I offered to take a polygraph police won't directly confirm any of that I'm Kelly worthman here's a look at today's
00:14:22
top stories Kelly worthman interviewed Panky for Denver's CBS station over FaceTime if I gave my
00:14:31
DNA that would be kind of like a knockout blow did you kill Janel Matthews absolutely not we tried to get
00:14:41
our own interview with Panky would you let us talk to your client no I will not but by then defense attorney Anthony
00:14:49
viorst had silenced his chatty new client Mr Panky likes to talk he does to some extent we're going to just have to
00:14:59
have to face that Janelle's Father Jim says the fast breaking news about Panky surprised him we had never heard the
00:15:08
name Steve Panky we were totally clueless about this guy but as it turns out when Janelle vanished in 1984 Panky
00:15:17
lived in gy about 2 miles from the Matthews home at the time I was married and I had a 5-year-old son gy was much
00:15:27
smaller then and Panky was known around town I had met him in about the mid 1970s you remember that I do yeah he
00:15:36
worked from my father I remember meeting him gy mayor and former police officer John Gates knew Steven Panky and says he
00:15:44
was not considered a person of interest in the early days when Janelle first disappeared was Panky questioned at all
00:15:52
in the early days of this investigation not to my knowledge where was he the night Janelle Matthews disappeared
00:15:59
Anthony vior says his client has an alibi he was at home that night with his wife and
00:16:06
child Panky says the morning after Janelle disappeared he and his family left gy for 5 days we went to California
00:16:16
to be with my parents for Christmas on the 26th we were driving back and I heard on the car radio that a
00:16:26
girl was missing from gy Colorado of course you know you think that's terrible but lots of kids go missing you
00:16:37
know that's what he says he thought at first but a month after Janelle's disappearance Panky suddenly inserted
00:16:45
himself directly into the middle of this case I contacted the Fort Collins FBI office and volunteered some information
00:16:55
about Janelle's disappearance I said I wanted talk to you it may or may not have something to do with the Janelle
00:17:03
Matthews case Steve Panky claims that 7 days after Janelle disappeared his father-in-law a groundskeeper at a gy
00:17:12
cemetery shared some disturbing information he told me that a cop had contacted him and said that he had a
00:17:23
body he wanted to be buried Panky told kmvt that he shared the information with the FBI because he feared that somehow
00:17:33
someone might be trying to implicate him in Janelle's murder I want to at least be on record that I talk to you so I
00:17:40
don't get possibly an obstruction of justice charge it's a wild sounding story and 48
00:17:48
hours can't confirm it or even that he went to the FBI law enforcement records show that
00:17:54
Panky had other unrelated run-ins with grey police they describe mostly minor and
00:18:01
non-violent allegations like creating a nuisance and harassment in fact the day before Janelle disappeared Panky was
00:18:09
arrested at a bank for harassment and Criminal Trespass he argued with a bank teller and the police were called the
00:18:17
police and court records of what happened with the charges are no longer available and that's the kind of thing
00:18:23
that's happened to Mr Panky over the years he's had periodic you know sort of spats with people because he is an
00:18:27
erasable prickly guy but police clearly thought it was more than that and were looking closely at panky's past possibly
00:18:36
including a case from 1977 when a 26-year-old Panky was charged with sexually assaulting a woman
00:18:44
he met in church Steve welcome to unfound in this 4H hourong podcast recorded in November
00:18:52
2019 in 1977 I was a youth pastor at Church Panky claims he was dating his accuser
00:19:02
she was 23 years old there was a sexual encounter and she later said it was non-consensual the woman eventually
00:19:11
asked that the case be dismissed and it has nothing to do with this case nothing
00:19:17
he's a firm adherent to the Ten Commandments which include Thou shalt not kill but Jim Matthews who joined
00:19:23
that same church not long after Panky left says there's another commandment Panky seems to be having trouble with
00:19:31
Thou shalt not bear false witness he was not a youth worker at our church he was
00:19:37
the janitor do you believe that he was a threat to children in that church we don't
00:19:47
know Anthony theor says he isn't worried there's no physical evidence whatsoever
00:19:52
to connect Mr Panky to this crime zero physical evidence okay John Gates knows the evidence is circumstantial
00:19:59
but he believes it is as strong as it is strange this is some of the most bizarre
00:20:06
stuff I've ever heard and I've been around the BL about 2 years after 12-year-old
00:20:26
Janelle Matthews vanished from her home in gy Colorado her family made the painful decision to pack up and leave
00:20:35
town you have to go on with life you can't let this consume you around that same time Steven Panky his young son and
00:20:45
his wife who was pregnant with their second son also left gy the Panky family bounced around from
00:20:53
state to state for a while 1989 they settled in Idaho but Panky admits he could not stop
00:21:02
thinking about Janelle it would be in the back of my mind about this case so I called the guy who lived next door I
00:21:11
just asked did they ever resolve that Janelle Matthews thing and he said no not to his knowledge but Panky might
00:21:17
have been more than just curious in 1999 he told the Idaho Supreme Court after a
00:21:23
conviction for once again causing a scene in a bank that the conviction which was dismissed years later was in
00:21:30
part an attempt to force him to become an informant in Janelle's disappearance he also wrote that he feared he might
00:21:38
get the death penalty for revealing the location of her body see that's weird I mean why would he say that if he didn't
00:21:45
know where Janelle Matthews was buried well here's what I'll say Richard it I I agree with you that it's weird just
00:21:52
makes zero sense it's just he is a strange guy and we submit that he never knew where the body was cuz he did do
00:21:59
this but over the years there was even more strange Behavior moments that authorities believe add up to
00:22:07
circumstantial evidence what did you think of him how did he seem to you very odd Kevin Schneider says he met the
00:22:14
Panky family when they first moved to Idaho his son was friends with panky's son Mark did you son ever see any
00:22:23
unusual things at the Panky house when he was over there yes he did one time I guess their family dog was doing a lot
00:22:31
of barking and it was irritating Steven and he took duct tape and wrapped it around the dog's muzzle oh Panky denies
00:22:38
he ever did that but Kevin says panky's son Mark was so unhappy living at home that the schneiders took him in for
00:22:47
about six years he couldn't take his dad in 2001 panky's wife filed for divorce and he moved to shonne Idaho where in
00:22:59
2004 without any experience with law enforcement other than being arrested he ran for Sheriff he lost but Panky still
00:23:08
wanted to be Sheriff somewhere in 2008 he thought about running in Twin Falls where he went to church with Ryan horley
00:23:17
a political consultant I was kind of confused because our local sheriff actually went
00:23:23
to our church he wanted to run against his fellow church member yeah it just seemed really weird that he didn't have
00:23:28
a grievance against our local sheriff it just seemed like he was just running just to run Panky might have thought
00:23:34
better about running in twinfalls in 2008 he ran for Sheran shonne once again and once again he didn't come close to
00:23:44
winning my name is Steve Panky but his political Ambitions grew and he became a Serial candidate he's ran for lieutenant
00:23:55
governor once he's ran for governor two times I humbly ask for your vote on May 15th one of the times he ran for
00:24:04
governor was a real dumpster fire what made that campaign a dumpster fire he ran under the Constitutional party I
00:24:13
know you don't like at their State Convention he claimed that they tried to do an exorcism on him I'm sorry did you
00:24:20
say an an exorcism yes I know that you're a politician and not a priest but did he seem in need of an exorcism it
00:24:27
just seems straight I I was just kind of glued to the headlines this whole time on just his stories that they just
00:24:34
didn't make sense for the record the Constitution party denies Panky or anyone else was exercised at least by
00:24:43
them a humbly asked for your vote on May 15th in 2018 Panky made a second attempt
00:24:50
at becoming governor and to no one's surprise he lost Ryan horley says that's when Panky started collecting
00:25:01
guns out of the blue he began U purchasing firearms and later found out that gy Police Department had been
00:25:10
contacting him regarding this murder investigation and 6 weeks after Janelle's remains were discovered
00:25:18
authorities were at panky's front door with a search warrant they searched this place they
00:25:24
took my laptop Panky had an interesting next move he ran for Sheriff again vote Steve
00:25:33
Panky for Sheriff I think that was his last ditch effort honestly to do what to Halt any investigation to Halt um him
00:25:42
getting arrested it didn't work it is with great honor today that we announce that the grand jury indicted an
00:25:48
individual named Steven Dana Panky for the kidnapping and murder of Janelle Matthews on October 12th 2020 police
00:25:57
arrested Steven Panky for kidnapping and first-degree murder to the Matthews family I pray that this news brings you
00:26:05
some closure and hope as we continue to pursue Justice for Janelle and your family defense attorney Anthony theor
00:26:13
says the case against his client is just a weak and circumstantial collection of
00:26:20
Strange Behaviors test I don't like to divulge my defense you know on National Television but I don't think it's going
00:26:27
to be any surprise when I tell you that they've got no motive whatsoever for this crime there's absolutely no
00:26:32
indication Mr Panky knew this girl knew where she lived had any desire to kill her but the District Attorney's Office
00:26:39
felt they had enough evidence to go to trial please be seated and on October 13th
00:26:46
2021 a jury was seated Steve Panky is innocent and ready to hear the case [Music]
00:27:13
in August 2019 nearly 35 years after Janelle vanished Gloria and Jim Matthews were finally able to lay her to rest we
00:27:24
knew that we wanted to give her a dignified burial and I'm not a real emotional person but
00:27:33
boy just the floodgates opened up for both of [Music] us but there was no rest for the
00:27:43
Matthews they had to wait a little more than 2 years until October 2021 for this moment the search for
00:27:53
justice for Janelle begins today opening statements in the trial of Step Panky the evidence in this case will prove
00:28:03
that the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree and second degree kidnapping gy Mayor John Gates was on
00:28:12
the witness list what were the challenges facing the prosecution well I think from a law enforcement perspective
00:28:19
the fact that the case was 37 years old the big thing in policing now is DNA that of course doesn't exist problem is
00:28:28
there's no physical evidence right so you've really got to believe these prosecution witnesses to convict this
00:28:34
guy no question of course the prosecution also has panky's own words he spent years
00:28:42
insisting he had Vital Information about what happened to Janelle Matthews he wasn't a person of interest and yet he
00:28:50
picks up the phone and he calls detective Jack stotler and he identifies himself as a ordained Baptist Minister
00:28:57
he claimed the he had contact with somebody who had information about Janelle's disappearance but he didn't
00:29:03
give up the information we interviewed panky's attorney Anthony viorst as he was preparing for trial why would he
00:29:10
interject himself into the case um I can't answer that because um I can't get into his head but I do think it's a
00:29:18
combination of sort of obsessive compulsive behavior and you know perhaps even mental illness mayor Gates thinks
00:29:26
there's plenty of evidence against Panky the most strong evidence to me is the way Mr Panky conducted himself from the
00:29:34
time this happened up till his indictment the bucket of bizaar means a lot to me it builds a
00:29:41
really really strong circumstantial case in my mind well at some point your your
00:29:46
name came out of that bucket of bizaar yes it did and that's why Gates became a prosecution witness he testified about a
00:29:54
call he got back in 2019 about a a bizarre claim Panky made in a letter to the media I was sitting
00:30:03
at my desk one day some time back and had a call from a journalist in Idaho that told me that I'd been named as a
00:30:11
person of interest in this case by Mr Panky and I think my jaw probably hit my desk and I said what in another
00:30:19
jaw-dropping move in that same letter Panky also named himself as a person of interest while still insisting he
00:30:28
innocent Mr Panky loves the Limelight he just does for whatever reason it's a hell of a way to get the Limelight isn't
00:30:34
it it's not a good way I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for Panky it might have started getting a little hot
00:30:41
under the Limelight if you will when the state star witness took the stand my name is Angela Hicks she is Steven
00:30:49
panky's ex-wife describe what happens on December 21st at your house that was just one day after Janelle disappeared
00:30:58
appeared Angela Hicks says her then husband came home and seemingly out of the blue announced they were leaving on
00:31:05
that trip to California and they were leaving quickly he said get us ready to go we're leaving before daylight
00:31:14
tomorrow morning to go to Big Bear for Christmas hick says on their way back to gy Panky insisted she turn on the radio
00:31:24
she says that shocked her because Panky had forbidden radio radio and television
00:31:29
use in their house about a year earlier no more music no TV no radio no newspapers this is going to be a Godly
00:31:39
home but Angela Hicks says that day her ex-husband was obsessed making her flip the dial in search of news about
00:31:48
Janelle's disappearance how long were you driving as you flip stations looking for new stories about Janelle Matthews
00:31:56
um I mean several hours once back in grey she says Panky drove right past their house straight to
00:32:04
the grocery store where he made her buy the local papers and search for news about Janelle he wanted me to read each
00:32:13
article out loud to him hick says Panky over the years would bring up Janelle or
00:32:19
react strangely when others did and she got really concerned when she found a note in the trash and one of the things
00:32:28
notated in his handwriting on this piece of legal paper was snow outside the Matthews House was
00:32:36
raped remember those footprints in the snow that somebody possibly Janelle's abductor tried to conceal using a garden
00:32:44
rake prosecutors say only the Matthews family investigators and presumably the killer knew about them but apparently
00:32:54
Panky knew he even mentioned them in a 2019 conversation with investigators and that
00:33:01
is arguably the one piece of evidence that arguably ties Mr Panky to the crime I mean arguably they never
00:33:13
released the information about The Rake so here's what I'll say it's our position that it was divulged by law
00:33:17
enforcement all right by the police yeah they told him all right and furthermore
00:33:23
vior told the jury that Panky wasn't the only person who knew about those raked Footprints Norris Drake ladies and
00:33:30
gentlemen knew that the footprints were Rak Norris Drake the orst claims that he
00:33:38
is Janelle's killer in the years after Janelle disappeared Drake was arrested on multiple unrelated misdemeanor
00:33:45
charges noris St murdered Janelle Matthews I mean as a reporter you start looking around and start trying to do
00:33:51
some searching of who this person is Kelly worthman and others covering the trial had never heard the name named
00:33:58
Norris Drake before but unlike Panky Drake had been questioned by police about Janelle's disappearance his mother
00:34:06
and sister lived across the street from the Matthews home and he was at his mother's house the night Janelle was
00:34:14
taken there were no signs of a struggle inside the Matthews home he could have been someone that Janelle had either
00:34:21
seen before or she might have willingly opened the door let him in might have willingly gone with him if he had said
00:34:27
something happened to your family come with me so that's why there was no struggle all right because Norris Drake
00:34:32
got her to leave the house on the night Janelle vanished Drake was unaccounted for for several hours but when did he go
00:34:41
missing Police Stopped investigating him when his mother told them Drake was still with her in her house at the Time
00:34:49
Janelle is believed to have disappeared but it raised some significant and I think important questions and vior had
00:34:57
more based on testimony by a former girlfriend of Drakes Norris Drake had an interest in young girls who had recently
00:35:03
reached pubert exactly what you know was exactly Norris Drake died in 2007 but many thought vor's theory about him
00:35:13
helped panky's case but the most talkative person in this case had yet to be heard from Panky himself would take
00:35:23
the stand the truest thing you've ever said is you're a master manipulator right
00:35:35
[Music] maybe the testimony you give will be the truth the whole truth when Steven Panky
00:35:45
swore to tell the truth and nothing but the truth Gloria and Jim Matthews were hoping to finally get to the truth about
00:35:53
their daughter Janelle's murder hopefully we will know the scenario of what happened that night but Panky has
00:36:01
never been a man with clear answers in the little jail cubicle before coming up here I was praying and I was thinking
00:36:10
God maybe I shouldn't testify because I'd be just telling more lies now under oath Panky said it was time to say
00:36:20
truthfully that he was a liar until now the truth is I made a lot of stuff up out of bitterness like that story he
00:36:31
once told law enforcement about his father-in-law he told me a cop had contacted him and said that he had a
00:36:41
body he wanted to be buried I had told so many lies that was one of many lies says Panky meant to Target people he
00:36:49
hated like his father-in-law and Mayor John Gates was a polite way of flipping them the bird it was pure hatred on my
00:36:59
part is that in any way believable to you it's not to me uh Richard but keep in mind I'm a 26y law enforcement
00:37:07
veteran so I might be a little more cynical than the average person it was just me trying
00:37:14
to be a big man be in the case okay I had no knowledge Panky made an unusual witness in his own defense one lie leats
00:37:25
to another Panky said says it was lies that led to him being charged with murder but not his lies his ex-wife
00:37:33
Angela hicks's lies fueled by her need for Revenge I had never imagined Angie would be as biggest Liars
00:37:44
I am Panky refuted his ex-wife's claim that their trip to California two mornings after Janelle disappeared was
00:37:52
sudden insisting it had long been planned a month three weeks two months I don't know before December he agreed
00:38:02
they were listening to the radio on their way back to gy that's the first time I heard that there was a missing
00:38:11
child but denied he was obsessed with the news I think it's it's her word against his so the defense clearly has
00:38:19
to prove yes he's an admitted liar but he's not lying now Panky was on the stand for 2 days giving testimony that
00:38:26
was often rambled I want to back up a little bit Mr P you I'm going to I'm going to ask you answer
00:38:31
my questions a little more directly if you don't mind and hard to follow think and sometimes head scratching I spent a
00:38:40
couple of hours in the basement jail area with my attorney and he was talking to me about my
00:38:50
testimony Mr VOR was saying to me cuz I would give certain things and he'd say well that's a good answer then I'd say
00:38:58
other things he'd say well that's nobody's going to buy that he lives in a world of conspiracy
00:39:04
paranoia and low self-esteem in his closing argument viorst who's a lawyer and not a psychiatrist raised serious
00:39:13
questions about his client's Mental Health Mr Panky does have a mental illness panky's defense lawyer told me
00:39:20
that he thought his client might be mentally ill if that's the theory of the defense did panky's time on the stand
00:39:26
help him or hurt him I could see that going either way but the state saw it going their way he's not someone that
00:39:34
has a mental health disorder he is a master manipulator on November 2nd 2021 the jurors got the case and 2 days later
00:39:43
they were back as a jury reached the unanimous verdict on count number four count four making false reports to
00:39:50
authorities we the jury find the defendant Steven Dana peny guilty I think that part might have fit into the
00:39:56
no-brainer category the other counts were far more complex than that in my opinion on those other counts the actual
00:40:04
murder charges the jury deadlocked and could not come to a unanimous verdict realize jury was unable to reach a
00:40:12
verdict on the other counts and that is a perfectly acceptable way for a trial to conclude the judge declared a
00:40:18
mistrial and as of now nobody has been convicted of murdering Janelle the jury likely was conflicted
00:40:28
on was Mr Panky in fact someone that kidnapped and murdered jonelle Matthews or was he one that just surrounded
00:40:35
himself with strange bizarre behavior for years for the family of Janelle Matthews
00:40:42
the news was so devastating they didn't want to discuss it to not have that definitive answer it's frustrating it's
00:40:50
emotional it's exhausting and they may have to do it all again prosecutors have announced they are ready for a new trial
00:40:59
because they still believe Janelle was killed by Steven Panky what do you think happened to your
00:41:07
sister I don't know specifics but he took her he shot her and then he buried her and went on
00:41:19
with his life and she could not go on with hers [Music] 48 Hours don't miss an episode
00:41:52
[Music]