A 33-year-old woman from Bethel Park, Penn., has been positively identified as the murder victim who was found Oct. 5 alongside Kane Springs Road in Lincoln County.
Sheriff Kerry Lee said Jamie Feden was identified by the Clark County Coroner?s office using dental records after receiving information from Pittsburgh police that the body might be Feden?s.
Lee said he sent deputies Mike Ray and Derek Foremaster to Pittsburgh this week to conduct interviews. ?They were the primary investigating officers on the case here in Lincoln County. Mike on the initial call, and Derek as the supervisor. They will fly to Pittsburgh, go to Bethel Park (about 10 miles south of Pittsburgh) to talk to police there and gather their reports.?
Lee said the deputies will ?probably interview some of the family of both the victim and the suspect? and might ?even learn of a motive? though they probably will not talk to the suspect, 39-year old John Chapman of Oakland, Maryland, as he likely has a defense attorney at this time. ?Bethel Park police have done a big share of the case already. We?ll be there basically to clean up loose ends.?
Chapman was arrested Nov. 15 by police in Pittsburgh and allegedly has confessed to ?smothering a woman to death somewhere north of Las Vegas? in late September.
Lee said Feden?s family suspected Chapman had done something after she had been missing for over two months, and contacted police about their concerns.
Feden?s body was found Oct. 5 on the Kane Springs Road, and Lee said at the time, it appeared to have been there ?at least a week or more.?
Feden and Chapman were known to have been seeing each other.
Lee said when the officers return he expects it will take about a week or so to prepare a preliminary report for the district attorney. After the DA reviews the report, he will issue a decision as to whether to file charges.
Chapman is currently being held in Pittsburgh on charges of felony kidnapping and criminal use of a communication facility as well as a misdemeanor charge of obstructing administration of the law.
If the district attorney feels Chapman should be extradited back to Nevada, that could be a rather lengthy process, Lee said. ?Then he?ll have a preliminary hearing in justice court, be bound over to district court and so forth. It could be a long while.?