Jaime Feden is finally getting some justice for her horrifying death.
Per reports, way back in September 2019, John Matthew Chapman picked up his girlfriend in Pennsylvania and told her they were going on a road trip to Nevada with the intentions of buying a home together in Las Vegas. The trip that was supposed to be romantic, however, ended up being the last trip Feden would ever go on.
As they drove into the desert, Chapman convinced her to do a “bondage photoshoot,” per the criminal complaint. With duct tape and zip ties, the couple trekked out into the desert, where Chapman tied Feden to a post with zip ties and covered her airways with the tape. It’s said it was there he sat and watched her suffocate until she died. Just awful…
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After she stopped breathing, cops say her boyfriend removed her clothes, zip ties, and tape, and left her body in the desert. He then returned to Pennsylvania and got rid of her clothes along the way to hide the evidence. Feden wouldn’t be found until October 5. In November, her friends and family still didn’t know this was her body, though. A friend of hers requested a welfare check because they hadn’t seen her since September, and noticed Chapman coming in and out of her home.
Inside the 33-year-old’s home, police found her boyfriend’s ID, Feden’s cell phone, and several rolls of duct tape and zip ties. By December, law enforcement confirmed the body was indeed the missing Bethel Park woman’s, and Chapman was arrested. After his arrest, prosecutors claimed he confessed to killing his girlfriend for her money, and even continued to pretend to be her on Facebook for a bit, while he lived in her home and spent her money.
On Friday, though, a grueling five years after the crime, Feden’s family got closure. Chapman was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of one count of kidnapping resulting in death. Attorney Jason M. Frierson said in a statement following the sentencing:
“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. This sentence should send a clear message to others that kidnapping and killing another person will result in a substantial prison sentence.”
In the victim’s obituary, her loved ones wrote:
“Jaime was resilient, kind, loving, and strong-willed. She left this earth too early for us to understand, but God always has a purpose and therefore we all must believe that Jaime is still among us fulfilling hers.”
Heartbreaking. May Jaime rest in peace.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Jaime Feden/Facebook/Allegheny County Jail]