Ex-Wife of Murderer Cracks 35-Year-Old Cold Case in New Documentary
The latest true crime special from Oxygen delves into a murder case that took more than three decades to solve.
Back in 1984, 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews went missing from her Greeley, Colo. residence. Despite a nationwide missing child milk carton campaign—among the first in American history—Jonelle remained unfound.
In an exclusive preview of The Girl on the Milk Carton on E! News, Angela Hicks, who was married to Jonelle’s killer around the time of her disappearance, expressed her feelings of helplessness after two decades. “I felt like I had exhausted all my options,” she said. “I tried everything and nothing seemed to work. It was just years of waiting.”
Angela had long suspected her former husband, true-crime enthusiast and former Idaho gubernatorial candidate Steve Pankely, had a role in Jonelle’s disappearance. However, her attempts at seeking justice hit dead ends—until 35 years later, when Jonelle’s remains were found just 20 miles from her house in 2019.
It was then that Angela received a call from Robert Cash, who reopened the long-cold case.