A Pennsylvania man who was convicted by a federal jury was sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping a woman in Pennsylvania, then driving her to Nevada and killing her in the desert.
Following an eight-day jury trial in May 2024, John Matthew Chapman was found guilty of one count of kidnapping resulting in death. United States District Judge James C. Mahan presided over the trial and sentenced Chapman to the maximum penalty.
“The defendant violated the victim’s trust by luring her away from her family and friends in Pennsylvania and out into the Nevada desert, where he viciously killed her,” said United States attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada.
“Today’s sentencing holds the defendant accountable for the callous and brutal murder of an innocent young woman,” said special agent in charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI Las Vegas Field Office.
According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, on November 14, 2019, the Bethel Park Police Department in Pennsylvania conducted a welfare check on the victim at the request of a friend. During the welfare check, neighbours stated that they had not seen the victim in approximately two months, but they had observed a person whom they believed to be her boyfriend (Chapman) entering and leaving the victim’s residence.
Inside the victim’s residence, officers found identification cards with Chapman’s name and photograph, the victim’s cellular telephone, multiple zip ties, and a roll of duct tape.
On November 15, 2019, Bethel Park Police Department detectives arrested and interviewed Chapman. During the interview, Chapman admitted that in September 2019, he drove the victim from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to Las Vegas, Nevada.
He further admitted that he misled the victim into believing the trip was a vacation and they would potentially purchase a residence in Las Vegas. Chapman, however, had planned to kill the victim before their departure to Nevada.
Chapman told investigators that he drove the victim out to the desert in Lincoln County, Nevada. Under the pretext of a bondage photo shoot, Chapman bound the victim’s hands and feet with plastic zip ties and affixed her to a signpost. Then he applied duct tape to her mouth and nose and watched her die from asphyxiation.