Greeley Community Remains Haunted By 30-Year-Old Missing Girl Case
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - Police are once again asking for any information about a mystery that's haunted the Greeley community for three decades.
Jonelle Matthews was 12 years old when she disappeared from her home without a trace. Saturday marks exactly 30 years since Dec. 20, 1984, when Matthews disappeared from her home in a West Greeley neighborhood.
While the case has gone cold, police are now asking for any information about that night, saying even old details could produce new leads.
Police still do not know what happened to Matthews after friends dropped her off at her home after singing in a school Christmas concert. She may have been home alone for a half hour before police believe she was kidnapped, but they never found any proof -- not a chance sighting, never a suspect named, and her body has not turned up, baffling investigators for years.
"It haunts all of us that have had anything to do with this case," Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner told CBS4.
As detectives retire, Garner turns the case over to fresh eyes.
"This one is hard because there haven't been any details; there hasn't been anything that would point a smoking gun, so to speak, in any one direction," Garner said.
Garner is hopeful a renewed call for information will conjure up details witnesses may have once thought unimportant. He suspects someone killed Matthews and may still be roaming free.
"It's bothersome, very bothersome," Garner said.
He keeps in touch with Matthews' parents, who moved years ago, saying the case remains active.
"Justice hasn't been served for this little girl, and justice hasn't been served in this case," Garner said. "And when you're a police officer, that bothers you. So we want justice for this little girl."
Ten years after Matthews disappeared, her family decided to hold a memorial service for her, though never knowing for sure whether she's alive or dead.
There are still rewards being offered for information that leads to a break in the decades-old case.
