(FOX)- A former candidate for governor of Idaho has said he's under investigation in the cold-case killing of a 12-year-old Colorado girl 35 years ago.
Steve Pankey made the revelation during an interview with the Idaho Statesman this week.
Thepaper, citing a warrant, said authorities believe Pankey is a person of interest in the 1984 kidnapping and murder of Jonelle Matthews. A search of Pankey's Twin Falls home was conducted last week.
Pankey, 68, and his former wife lived two miles away from Matthews when she disappeared from her Greeley, Colo., home on Dec. 20, 1984, after returning from a Christmas concert with her classmates.
Greeley police said a construction crew found Matthews' remains on July 23 of this year while excavating for a pipeline in a rural area.
Pankey claimed he gave authorities a DNA sample last month. However, Greeley police said it never made such a request. Pankey has not been charged in connection with Matthews' death.
Investigators have asked Pankey multiple times about Matthews, but Pankey said he won't speak without his attorney present.
He said he moved to Greeley in 1973 and was accused of "date rape" in 1977 by a woman he was dating. He was criminally charged, but the charge was later dismissed. He was also charged with as many as 20 misdemeanors in Colorado that included harassment.
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