Jesse Timmendequas
Jesse Timmendequas is a convicted murderer who raped and murdered his neighbor, seven-year-old Megan Kanka, in 1994.
Fast Facts:
- Born: April 15, 1961
- Residence: New Jersey State Prison, Trenton, New Jersey
- Victim: Megan Kanka
- Weapons used: Belt
- Location of crime: Hamilton Township, New Jersey
- Convicted of: Murder, Kidnapping, Rape, Sodomy
- Sentenced to: Death; changed to Life in Prison without Parole
- Repeatedly sexually abused by his father
- Mother had ten children by seven different men
- Determined to be mentally retarded as a child
Key Dates:
- April 15, 1961: Born
- ca. 1969: Reportedly saw father "brutally rape" neighborhood girl
- ca. 1978: Family had reportedly moved 21 times by this date
- 1979: Pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of five-year-old girl
- 1979: Begins nine-month imprisonment
- 1981: Pleaded guilty to sexual assault of seven-year-old girl
- 1981: Begins six year imprisonment
- July 29, 1994: Rapes and murders Megan Kanka
- May 30, 1997: Timmendequas found guilty on all counts
- June, 1997: Sentenced to death for murder of Megan Kanka
- December 17, 2007: New Jersey abolishes death penalty; Timmendequas's sentence commuted to life in prison without parole
Brief Biography
As a child, Timmendequas was repeatedly sexually abused by his father. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Timmendequas served over six years in prison for two sexual assaults on young girls. In 1994, Timmendequas lived with two other men he had met in prison in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, across the street from the Kanka household. On July 29, 1994, under the pretense of showing Megan Kanka a puppy, Timmendequas lured Kanka into his home, sexually assaulted her, strangled her with a belt, and left her body in a nearby park. Timmendequas was arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder of Megan Kanka. His sentence of death was commuted to life in prison after New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007.
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