Suspect Charged In 2009 Murder Of Jahmeshia Conner
By Chuck Sudo in News on May 8, 2014 1:45PM
Chicago Police say DNA evidence connected Rene Valentin-Matos (left) to the 2009 murder of Jahmeshia Conner. (Matos photo via Chicago Police Department handout. Conner photo via Justice4Jahmeshia.)
Chicago Police announced Wednesday they had a suspect in custody in the brutal 2009 rape and murder of 12-year-old Jahmeshia Conner. DNA evidence allegedly ties 47-year-old Rene Valentin-Matos to the crime, which Jahmeshia’s family members and supporters complained over the past five years didn’t receive the attention they felt by police.
Police described Valentin-Matos as a transient; he was arrested in a small town in central Minnesota, worked at a bakery and was described by his boss as a “quiet, gentle” man. Yet Valentin-Matos once worked and lived in a church where Jahmeshia and her family attended a block away from her home.
Jahmeshia went missing after a family function Nov. 15, 2009. Her aunt watched as Jahmeshia boarded a bus at 63rd and Aberdeen to head home about a mile away, but she never arrived. Complicating matters, a miscommunication between family members led to an initial delay in reporting Jahmeshia’s disappearance to police as her mother believed the girl stayed with an aunt overnight. Her body was later found in an alley behind an abandoned home and vacant lot.
Valentin-Matos is also charged in the 2011 rape of a Pilsen woman, which led to the break in Jahmeshia’s case. The Illinois State Police Crime Lab notified Chicago Police in January that DNA evidence connected the same man to both crimes. Investigators re-interviewed the victim in the 2011 rape case, who provided them with details allowing them to hone in on Valentin-Matos, who provided a DNA sample which matched the evidence in both cases.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy praised the work of detectives and officers in solving Jameshia’s case.
It was a disgusting story of an innocent young lady who was abducted, raped and ultimately murdered,” McCarthy said of the young girl. “Because [detectives] left no stone unturned, a murderer and rapist is off the street and the family will have some measure of closure.”
Jahmeshia’s mother, Birdie Lewis, was relieved Valentin-Matos is in custody.
“I'm not mad at the police. I'm mad at the person who did this,” said Lewis, flanked by relatives. “How can I be mad at the police? It's not their fault. It's the person's fault who did this to my child. It's his fault. So he has to pay.“I hope he don't never ever get a chance to see the light of day.”