the murder of Janelle Matthews is a crime case that took place in 1984 in Greeley Colorado Janelle was a 12 year old girl who disappeared from her home after performing a Christmas concert with her Middle School choir her parents returned home from the concert to find that she was missing and a large-scale search operation began immediately her remains were discovered in 2019 more than 30 years after her disappearance when construction workers Unearthed her body in a field 20 miles away from her home the cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the Head her disappearance had been a mystery for over three decades and her family had never given up hope of finding her police conducted a thorough investigation at the time of her disappearance but no one was ever charged with her murder after her remains were discovered police reopened the case and utilized DNA evidence and new investigative techniques to identify her killer in 2021 Stephen Pankey a former neighbor of the Matthews family was arrested and charged with her murder