A Pennsylvania man convicted in May of luring his girlfriend across the country and killing her in the Nevada desert was sentenced this week to life in prison.
John Matthew Chapman was found guilty at the end of an eight-day trial of one count of kidnapping resulting in death in the death of 33-year-old Jaime Rae Feden, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada. Chapman then returned to Pennsylvania, where he pretended to be Feden on Facebook and used her home, vehicle, and money until he was finally caught, as CrimeOnline reported.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, police conducted a welfare check on Feden in Noember 14, 2019, the US Attorney’s Office said. Neighbors said they hadn’t seen her in two months but had seen a man they thought was her boyfriend, identified as Chapman
When they executed a search warrant on the home, they found identification cards in Chapman’s name and with his photograph along with Feden’s cellphone, zipties, and a roll of duct tape.
The next day, they brought Chapman in for an interview, and he admitted driving Feden to Las Vegas in September. He said he lied to her that they were going on vacation and might buy a home there, when he in fact had already decided to kill her in Nevada. He did so by driving her out into the Lincoln County desert under the pretext of a bondage photo shoot, but instead he bound her to a signpost, duct taped her mouth and nose, and watched her asphyxiate.
After she was dead, he removed the zipties, duct tape, and her clothes and left her body by the signpost. Investigators found deleted photographs on his cell phone showing Feden in Nevada, one under a “Vegas” sign dated September 24 and another of her tied to signpost dated the next day.
“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. “This sentence should send a clear message to others that kidnapping and killing another person will result in a substantial prison sentence.”
