The sister of a 12-year-old girl who disappeared in 1984 says there’s new questions after the child’s remains were found Tuesday. Young Jonelle Matthews would be 47 today, but went missing decades ago. She was last seen entering her home on December 20, 1984, said cops. Friends had dropped her off after a choir concert.
Matthews’ sister has described the development as “surreal.”
“It’s still kind of surreal,” Jennifer Mogensen told 9News in a new interview. “It’s closure for me and my family but it also raises new questions now, and it’s sad too. We’re sad, my parents and I.”
The Greeley Police Department in Colorado relaunched their investigation into her disappearance last year. Here’s video they released in their bid to finally find the missing girl:
Through the years, Matthews’s family could only hold out hope for so long. They finally help a funeral service in 1994, believing their loved one had been kidnapped and murdered.
“We’ve never said goodbye to her and it’s kind of putting a closure to it,” mother Gloria Matthews told 9News at the time. “Because most likely she is dead. Our hearts are torn in wanting to put a closure to it and yet keeping a hope. Somehow this hope, Tuesday night, I think will kind of be buried. That thread of hope, we’ll bury that hope, I think.”
The investigation into Jonelle Matthews’s death is ongoing, and circumstances behind her disappearance and death remains a mystery. A crew excavating a rural area in Weld County discovered her body, cops said. Deputies confirmed that these were human remains. Evidence found at the scene, and a examination of the body resulted in Matthews being identified. Police said they’ll release more information when available.
[Screengrab via Greeley Police Department]
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