Steve Pankey, who came as a descend of successful men in positions with authority, failed in his political career. He ran as a write-in candidate for Lincoln County sheriff in 2004 and lost.
He ran as a Constitution Party candidate for Lincoln County sheriff in 2008 and in 2010, he looked for lieutenant governor of Idaho and lost on both of those. He ran for the Idaho Governor seat in 2014 as part of the Constitution and lost again and was denounced by the party after his letter submission in support of gay rights to the Attorney General.
He came out as gay after his divorce from his wife Angela. While he ran in the Republican primary for Governor in 2018, he garnered slightly over 1% of votes and when he was under investigation in Jonelle’s murder charge, he lost for sheriff in Twin Falls county.
Who is Republican Politician Steve Pankey?
Steve Pankey is a Republican Politician, born to Dana Pnakey Jr and his wife Ruth in Ventura, California, United States, and is 71 years old as of 2022. He graduated high school from the Alternative High School situated in La Puente, California, and got an Associate’s degree from Aims Community College.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school and served in Panama. B.F. Pankey, lieutenant governor of New Mexico was his great-grandfather. Evangelist and reverend, Dana Pankey Sr. was his grandfather who served as a pastor of Greeley’s Bethel Baptist Church in the 1940s. Dana Pankey, His father was a minister.
He was married to Angela Hicks and had a son. On October 18, 2021, when his ex-wife testified in the Jonelle Mattews case, she said he was controlling and did not allow her to drive and made her stop seeing her dad and Steve also forbid any radio or TV.
Steve Pankey’s Involvement in Jonelle Matthew’s Case
In accordance with the grand jury’s indictment and newspaper accounts at the time in the early 1970s, Steven Pankey and some extended family members lived in the Greeley area. In the summer of 1978, Jonelle’s trusted adults became a part of the congregation, Steve left the church in June of the same year.
Jonelle Mattews disappeared on December 20, 1984, from her home in Greeley, Colorado. His then-wife, Angela Hicks mentioned Steve dumping the family dogs before the unexpected trip right after Jonelle’s disappearance.
She also remarked that during their trips, her husband enforced her into reading the news in the newspaper about the girls’ disappearance case and also listened to the radio on the same case. After his return, he dug up his yard.
The police stated that Pakey claimed to have some details on the crime over the years and intentionally inserted himself into the investigation. Every statement he gave, pointed all back to him as a murderer.
He always had a keen interest in the case and policed marked that Steve had a crucial piece of evidence- a rake used to sweep away footprints in the snow which they had not revealed to the public.
Jonelle Matthew’s skeleton was found on July 23, 2019, in a rural weld Country Field when oil and gas site workers were digging for a pipeline. And once again, police took Pakey’s interest into consideration who had made various efforts to talk with detectives all through the investigation but when the police went to Twin Falls Sheriff’s Office and tried to speak with him, he refused.
In October 2020 after a Weld County grand jury charged him with first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping with a weapon in connection with Jonelle’s disappearance and murder, Pankey was arrested. Choosing to take his case to trial, he pleaded not guilty to the charges after his indictment.
In July 2021, a 15-day trial to be stated was set by the judge and the readiness conference of the trial has been scheduled for June 30, 2020. A motion hearing was scheduled for May 28, 2022.
Where Is 2 Times Idaho Governer Candidate Steve Pankey Now?
His hearing was set by the judge for 2022 May on a $5 million bond he remains in the custody after his arrest in October 2020 on charges of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping with a weapon. The current location of Steve Pankey is still unknown.
After the jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict in his first trial, another five-week trial will begin on October 4 of this year for Steve Pankey. After the judge has allowed the public defender’s office to withdraw from the case, Pankey may end up representing himself in the upcoming trial.
Some Unknown Facts About Steve’s Family
- Before a stint in the Army took him to Louisiana’s Fort Polk, Steve Pankey used to live in weld County in the 1970s.
- Until June 1978, Steve Pankey attended the Sunny View Church of the Nazarene in Greeley.
- Steve moved several times in 1889, he moved to Ketchum from Greeley then moved to Idaho and to Shoshone, Idaho.
- He filed a pleading in April 2003, in which he stated that Matthew’s family should know that she “died before crossing 10th st. (sic) and not to give the family hope.’
- In Phoenix, Arizona, USA, his son was murdered in 2013 and during his funeral, Hicks heard him say, “I hope God didn’t allow this to happen because of Jonelle Matthews.’