The Big Picture

Jonelle Matthews’ disappearance led to the milk carton initiative for missing children.
Former suspect Steven Pankey was brought to justice after years of suspicion.
Detective Robert Cash and Pankey’s ex-wife Angela Hicks speak out following the release of the documentary.

Oxygen has officially released one of its most incredible true-crime stories yet. Titled The Girl on the Milk Carton, the two-part production follows the heartbreaking story of Jonelle Matthews, who, at just 12 years old, seemingly vanished from her family’s home in Greeley, Colorado. It was winter, and the police had almost nothing to go off, aside from some footprints in the snow outside the home, which led them to believe someone had been watching the young girl through a window. Inside, there were no signs of a struggle, throwing even more confusion into the investigation. In a small town north of Denver, the community of Greeley came together to support the devastated Matthews family and find the missing girl. Matthews was one of the first missing children to be a part of the milk carton initiative which would put the images of missing kids on the back of milk cartons to get more eyes on the case.

Sadly, the story of Matthews came to a tragic end more than 30 years after her disappearance when her remains were discovered by construction workers putting in a pipeline not far from her home. With the investigation reopened as a murder, a suspect from the past, Steven Pankey, began to come more and more to the forefront. Pankey had inserted himself in the case during the initial days of the search and his wife, Angela Hicks, had grown more and more suspicious of his probable involvement. Offering her help to law enforcement, Hicks was able to cooperate with the folks who would eventually pin the murder of Matthews on Pankey.

During an online interview, I was given the opportunity to send some questions to both Hicks and the case’s leading detective, Robert Cash, who were kind enough to share their stories with me. You can read what they had to say below.

Angela Hicks Had Long Been Suspicious of Her Husband
Image via Oxygen

From the jump, Hicks said that she knew something wasn’t right with how obsessed her husband was with the pre-teen’s vanishing. “At the time of Jonelle’s disappearance, I knew something was off. There were too many peculiar things happening. But at that time, I attributed it to Steve’s hatred of the Sunnyview church and one of its members, Russ Ross.”

As time marched forward, Hicks said she grew more and more suspicious of Pankey as he tried to insert himself into the investigation, even “taunting police” about what he thought would never be discovered. “It was in the 1990s when I became aware of Steve taunting police about the case and found out that Steve was filing numerous legal documents giving details about the case.” Sadly, it also sounds like the case could have been closed years before Pankey was actually caught, but the police department turned its back on Hicks’ worries. “Through local police [in Idaho where I was living] I gave information but the Greeley police ended up blowing me off. At this point in time, I was sure that Steve was involved.”

When the lightbulb came on that there was likely a sadistic killer living with her under her roof, Hicks said that she was “devastated to come to this realization”, adding, “I feared for my life and my children if Steve realized I had put the pieces together. I was so careful not to talk to anyone about it for fear it would get back to Steve.”

Detective Robert Cash Has Always Been Drawn To Cold Cases

Detective Cash was a detective for 18 years out of the 20 that he worked in law enforcement. In his response to me, he said that, while the Matthews case was the “most prominent” of his career due to the attention that would eventually work its way into Ronald Reagan’s White House, each and every case was “important to [him] for separate reasons.” Sharing a bit about his experience with cold cases, Detective Cash said,:

“Nearing the end of my career, I had relative success with solving cold cases. Being able to assist a victim with closure was always a goal for me. And, when it came to cold case investigation, this took on special meaning. Victims of crimes that sit unsolved for sometimes decades are robbed of their freedom. Always looking over their shoulder. Seeing victims take back their freedom after a case is solved is motivating.”

Reminiscing on the moment in which he knew law enforcement had gotten their man, Detective Cash said:

“The ‘We got him’ moment for me happened after
speaking to Angela Hicks
for the first time. The immense amount of detailed information pieced together the investigation. Pankey, though his hiding in plain sight, unknowingly solidified his own fate. He couldn’t thwart us as he did with so many people.
His constant aggressive assertions and gaslighting
only steered us in the right direction.”

Breaking down how the milk carton initiative was started for Matthews’ case, Detective Cash explained:

“The milk carton campaign
began with a family friend
who worked on a dairy in the Greeley area. That collaboration was just an example of how determined the Matthews family was in broadcasting the incident around the planet. For example,
word of Jonelle’s disappearance reached embassies around the world
. In the end, the global attention the case received was too appetizing for Steve Pankey’s narcissistic personality to resist. I believe Pankey thought he was getting “Atta boys” from all the coverage. This intense campaign ultimately led to his demise.”

The Girl on the Milk Carton is available now on Oxygen.

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