Episode 74: The Abduction and Murder of Melissa Jenkins
30-year-old Allen Prue and 33-year-old Patricia Prue
Melissa Jenkins was born on November 23rd, 1978 and grew up as a well-loved, kind, and warm person. After getting her bachelor’s degree in natural science, Melissa took a job teaching physics at St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. She also was a coach for the school’s basketball and soccer teams. Melissa was popular with her students and colleagues, and was known to be friendly and a hard-worker. She also waitressed on the weekends, and made sure she could provide a good life to her two-year-old son, Ty.
On March 25th, 2012, Melissa received a call from an old acquaintance who used to plow her driveway. The caller claimed that her boyfriend, also an acquaintance of Melissa due to the plowing, was having car trouble and needed help. Despite feeling uneasy, Melissa agreed and put her son in the car to go help. She also called her ex-boyfriend, whom she was still friends with, and told him what she was going to do.
When the ex-boyfriend didn’t hear back from Melissa after a while, he got nervous and attempted to track her down. He ended up finding Melissa’s idling car on the side of Goss Hollow Road with her son in the backseat. There was no sign of Melissa. The scene around her car indicated a struggle, with her phone being found all smashed up nearby. Unfortunately, the investigation led to her body being recovered the next day in the Connecticut River.
Over the course of the investigation, police were able to uncover Melissa’s phone records, as well as surveillance footage, and pinpoint her perpetrators- Allen and Patricia Prue. They had a sick fascination with Melissa and had been plotting her murder for a while due to the fact that she kept denying the advances of Allen. Subsequently, Allen and Patricia were charged with second degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and kidnapping.
Image Sources:
cbsnews.com - “Couple Arrested For Murder Of Vermont Teacher”