Jesse Timmendequas

Case overview

Jesse Timmendequas (born April 15, 1961) raped and murdered his neighbor, seven-year-old Megan Kanka, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, USA, on July 29, 1994.

The murder led the Legislature of the U.S. state of New Jersey to pass “Megan’s Law,” which required notification when a previously convicted sex offender moved into a neighborhood. The New Jersey law identified convicted sex offenders according to “risk,” and determined risk by considering the number of offenses, whether a weapon was used, age of the victim, whether the offender had therapy and if so, whether therapy had succeeded.

Timeline

• July 29, 1994 — Seven-year-old Megan Kanka disappeared from her neighborhood in Hamilton Township.
• May 5, 1997 — The guilt-phase trial began.
• May 30, 1997 — The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts; the court sentenced Timmendequas to death.
• June 9, 1997 — The penalty phase of the trial began.
• June 20, 1997 — The penalty phase continued until this date.
• December 17, 2007 — The New Jersey Legislature abolished the state’s death penalty, resulting in Timmendequas’s sentence being commuted to life in prison without parole.
• 2010 — Timmendequas was incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

The offence

At about 5:30 p.m., Timmendequas lured Megan into his house, ostensibly to play with his puppy. He drew her into his bedroom and attempted to sexually assault her. Megan screamed and tried to escape, but Timmendequas would not let her leave, and he strangled her with a belt until she lost consciousness.

During the struggle, Megan hit her face on a dresser and her head on a door, causing bleeding. Timmendequas placed a plastic bag over her head to avoid blood stains on the carpet. He then sexually assaulted Megan again. Believing Megan to be dead, he placed her body in a toy box and carried it downstairs. When he put the box in his truck, he thought he heard Megan cough. He drove to Mercer County Park, took Megan’s body out of the box, and placed her in tall weeds. Before he left, he sexually assaulted her again.

After the killing, prosecutors alleged that he carried Megan’s body out of the house in a toy box and dumped it in the county park, and that he tried to cover up the crime by using ammonia to wash down his steps, the toy box and his truck. Prosecutors also argued that Timmendequas lured Megan into his house and, after raping her, slammed her head onto a dresser, put plastic bags over her head, and strangled her with a belt. Another account in the record said that he raped her post-mortem after placing her in his car after he drove off, and then stuck her body into a toy box and left it in a nearby county park.

Victim

Megan Kanka was seven years old. She lived with her parents in Hamilton Township, diagonally across the street from the defendant.

Investigation and police questioning

Megan’s family called police when she did not return home. Officers arrived and joined neighbors in the search for Megan. Timmendequas participated in the search, handing out fliers with Megan’s picture.

Timmendequas told police that he had seen Megan riding a bicycle at 2:30 in the afternoon. The record states that this statement conflicted with an earlier statement to Maureen Kanka that he last saw Megan before dinner. When police asked if he had seen Megan at any other time, he said he saw Megan riding her bicycle in front of his home between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.

Police obtained the consent of the homeowner, Timmendequas’s roommate, to search Timmendequas’s living quarters. Police questioned Timmendequas again in the house, where he was shaking and perspiring, and he said he saw Megan and a friend between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. while he was washing his boat. The police then interviewed him at the police station, where he gave conflicting statements concerning his whereabouts during the time of Megan’s disappearance; soon thereafter, he was released.

The following day, at police headquarters, Timmendequas told the police that Megan was dead and that he had left her body in Mercer County Park. He did so at the prompting of his roommate, after repeatedly denying involvement. Timmendequas led the police to the body, and on the drive back to the police station, he recounted what had happened. At the station, in a formal statement, he confessed to the murder and some but not all aspects of the sexual assault. After the police presented him with the results of the autopsy, he provided further details of the sexual assault, the head injuries, and other conduct described above.

Evidence

The record describes blood stains, hair, and fiber samples found outside Timmendequas’s home, as well as a bite mark matching Kanka’s teeth on Timmendequas’s hand, as evidence that led to his being found guilty.

Prior criminal history and treatment

In 1979, Timmendequas pleaded guilty to the attempted aggravated sexual assault of a five-year-old girl in Piscataway, New Jersey. He was given a suspended sentence on the condition that he go obtain counseling, but, failing to go to counseling, he spent nine months at the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center.

In 1981, he pleaded guilty to an assault involving a seven-year-old girl and was imprisoned for six years at the Adult Diagnostic & Treatment Center (ADTC) in Avenel, New Jersey. The record also describes that he reportedly participated little in the treatment program offered at the ADTC. One therapist described him as a “whiner” who spent most of his time sleeping. Another therapist said she believed Timmendequas would eventually commit another sex crime, but did not believe he would commit murder.

The record further states that after release, he moved into the Hamilton Township house owned by roommate Joseph Cifelli’s mother, and he lived with two other convicted sex offenders across the street from the Kankas.

Charges and verdict

The jury found Timmendequas guilty of purposeful-or-knowing murder, two counts of felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, and four counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts of murder, including capital murder, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault.

Sentencing

The penalty phase of the trial commenced on June 9 and continued to June 20, 1997. The jury concluded that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court sentenced Timmendequas to death. In the proportionality review, testimony adduced at the penalty phase was considered together with the evidence elicited at the guilt phase.

In allocution, Timmendequas said:

Okay. I am sorry for what I've done to Megan. I pray for her and her family every day. I have to live with this and what I've done for the rest of my life. I ask you to let me live so I, some day, I can understand and have an understanding why something like this could happen. Thanks.

The record also states that Congressman Dick Zimmer said:

"I believe he is exactly the kind of predator that the legislature had in mind when it enacted the death penalty."

Appeals and status change

The record states that the sentence was upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court on appeal. It also states that Timmendequas remained on New Jersey’s Death Row until December 17, 2007, when the New Jersey Legislature abolished the state’s death penalty. The abolition resulted in his sentence being commuted to life in prison without parole.

Megan’s Law and federal legislative background

After the murder of their daughter, the Kankas began spearheading a campaign to enact legislation modeled after similar laws in Oregon, providing for police registration and community notification when sex offenders were released into a particular neighborhood. The New Jersey law required notification when a previously convicted sex offender moved into a neighborhood.

The record states that the New Jersey state Supreme Court upheld Megan’s Law in 1995. It also states that in April 1996, the U.S. Third Circuit of Appeals upheld the registration aspect of the law, but declined to decide whether the notification or classification procedures were constitutional because the case had a sparse factual record. In another 1996 case, a U.S. District Court in New Jersey ruled that community notification for sex offenders who have served their sentences violated constitutional guarantees against ex post facto punishment.

The record further states that the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children Law was passed in May 1996, and that on Sept. 13, 1996, the “Megan’s Law” notification part of the legislation was passed. It gives states until Sept. 1997 to pass versions of “Megan’s Law” or lose federal aid. The record states that at least 47 states plus the District of Columbia passed legislation requiring registration of convicted sex offenders and some form of notification. It also states that under the federal law, states decided the risk level of an offender and what kind of community notification should be used.

Trial procedure and participants (as stated)

The record states that under judge’s orders, Court TV was allowed to tape opening statements, closing statements and the verdict in the trial.

Defence case

The defense maintained that Timmendequas was coerced, by police, into confessing. The defense also argued that Timmendequas’s roommates, also convicted sex offenders, were involved in the slaying. The record describes the defense expected to present evidence that he was physically and sexually abused as a child and had suffered psychological damage as a result.

Mitigation evidence at the penalty phase

Two witnesses presented evidence of mitigating circumstances in Timmendequas’s background.

Carol Krych, a forensic social worker, testified that Timmendequas’s mother was a promiscuous alcoholic who had ten children by seven different men, and that his father was a violent drinker with a criminal history. Krych testified that, based on information provided by Timmendequas’s mother, he was raised in poverty, the family lived for a time in a shack, and he was often cold, dirty, hungry, and without adequate medical care.

Other sources told Krych that Timmendequas’s father sexually abused him and his brother Paul frequently; that the brothers once saw their father rape a seven-year-old girl; that their father tortured and killed their pets; and that he once forced the brothers to eat their pet rabbit. Krych concluded that Timmendequas had a severely dysfunctional family life.

Krych added that he was diagnosed with emotional problems as a youth and was classified as “educable mentally retarded,” while conceding that a conflict existed with that classification. She acknowledged that she had not testified on direct regarding academic reports indicating he had made good progress in school. Krych further admitted that although Paul originally said Timmendequas should not be sentenced to death, she had since heard that he had changed his mind.

Dr. John Podboy, a psychologist, testified that he relied on the Krych report but never evaluated Timmendequas personally. Podboy found that Timmendequas suffered from pedophilia, borderline mental retardation, fetal alcohol effect, and a schizoid personality disorder. He testified that Timmendequas likely had “generalized anxiety, . . . perhaps . . . includ[ing] post-traumatic stress disorder.” Podboy expressed the opinion that, at the time of the crime, Timmendequas was under “extreme emotional disturbance” and that his “capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct was very much impaired,” as was his ability “to conform his conduct . . . to the requirements of the law.” He also concluded that Timmendequas may have had a serious brain abnormality, which could reflect a post-traumatic insult, a vascular insult, or a congenital abnormality. Megan’s death, said the psychologist, was caused by a reflexive response to the panic Timmendequas felt when the victim attempted to flee.

Rebuttal evidence at the penalty phase

The State presented rebuttal witnesses.

Two detectives testified that people they spoke to about Timmendequas’s childhood said that his mother was not constantly intoxicated, that his house was not substandard, and that his clothing was not disheveled. One detective testified that Paul Timmendequas told him that their father physically abused Paul and Timmendequas, and that their mother broke Timmendequas’s arm when he was seventeen years old. The detective testified that Paul gave several inconsistent statements regarding sexual abuse, at one point even denying that he knew whether Timmendequas had been abused at all. Paul also claimed that he was drunk when he spoke with Krych.

Dr. Robert L. Sadoff, a psychiatrist, said that there was no evidence to support Timmendequas’s claims of extreme emotional disturbance and diminished capacity. Sadoff said that Timmendequas’s description of his own conduct demonstrated that he was in control of the situation and had acted logically to avoid apprehension. Sadoff also said that Timmendequas’s I.Q., seventy-four, showed that he had borderline intelligence that did not prevent him from functioning or appreciating the nature of his conduct.

Other details

The record describes that, one month after the murder, the New Jersey General Assembly passed a series of bills proposed by Paul Kramer that would require sex offender registration with a database tracked by the state, community notification of registered sex offenders moving into a neighborhood, and life in prison without a chance of parole for those convicted of a second sexual assault. Kramer expressed incredulity at the controversy created by the bills, saying that “Megan Kanka would be alive today” if the bills he proposed had been law.

The record also describes that Timmendequas told Maureen Kanka that he had seen Megan earlier that evening while he was working on his car, and it states that the Kankas called police hours later when Megan had not been found.

The record states that Timmendequas lived with Joseph Cifelli and Brian Jenin in the Hamilton Township house, and that both Joseph Cifelli and Brian Jenin were convicted sex offenders.

The record also states that defendant’s trial was held from May 5 to May 30, 1997.