We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ed Dentzel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ed below.

Ed , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One deeply underappreciated facet of being a service provider is the kind of crazy stuff that happens from time to time. It could be anything from a disgruntled client attacking an employee or waking up to find out a celebrity gave you a shoutout on TikTok – the sudden, unexpected hits (both positive and negative) make the profession both exhilarating and exhausting. Can you share one of your craziest stories?

The craziest thing for me so far in hosting Unfound for 7 years has been testifying–twice–in a murder trial in Greeley, CO. How did this happen?

In August of 2019, a guy with the name, Steve, became a Patreon supporter of Unfound. I knew nothing about him–just his first name. I thanked him for the patronage. The next month, September 2019, Steve revealed his full name: Steve Pankey. He then told me he was the main suspect in the murder of 12 year old Jonelle Matthews who disappeared from Greeley in 1984, whose remains had been discovered by accident in July 2019.

Steve told me that he had been listening to my podcast. He thought I was an excellent interviewer. So, he wanted me to have him on Unfound so he could profess his innocence.

This was not an easy decision for me to make. I don’t interview suspects–I interview family members and friends of missing people. People who surely had nothing to do with the disappearances being featured.

Interviewing Steve would be different. He might be a killer. Giving him a platform to speak might actually make it so he is never convicted if he killed Jonelle. In addition, I didn’t want to give the listeners and the missing persons families out there the impression that I had suddenly changed the format of the podcast.

Ultimately, with the help of my assistants, I decided to interview Steve. But the stipulation was that I could ask him any question and if he refused to answer even one, the interview would be ended and nobody would ever hear it. Steve agreed and our talk occurred on Oct. 19, 2019. It went for over 3 hours, Of course, Steve claimed he didn’t kill Jonelle. I will not go into the details here–it’s too long. The entire interview can be heard on Unfound’s YouTube Channel. Just do a search for “Unfound” and “Steve Pankey”.

The episode was well–received. Eventually, Steve was charged with Jonelle’s murder a year later in 2020. In September 2021, I got an email from the Weld County Prosecutor’s Office. They wanted me to travel to Greeley–on their dime–to testify in Steve’s trial because they planned to use my interview with Steve as a key piece of evidence. Seriously, I could’ve never have predicted that back in 2019 when I interviewed Steve. But this is what happened.

So, in October 2021–two years after my interview with Steve, I appeared on the witness stand in Colorado as the entire interview was played for the jury. I came to find out that the reason the interview was so important, was because I was the only person to get Steve to open up as much as he did. He had done other interviews but mine was the one that left nothing unturned. This was important because Steve–as everyone eventually found out–lied several times during my interview with him. Given this, the prosecution made the argument that Steve Pankey surely killed Jonelle because he is a known liar.

Well, it didn’t work. The October 2021 trial ended in a hung jury. I went back to my podcasting life, never imagining that I would have to go back to Colorado again. But that’s what happened.

A 2nd trial occurred. I once again was up on the stand to represent the interview I did with Steve. This time, though, the jury found Steve Pankey guilty in the murder of Jonelle Matthews. He is 72 and will surely die in prison. However, I have to admit that I have doubts about his guilt. At the very least, I did not think the prosecution proved its case even though I testified for the prosecution. For example, the prosecution never could put Steve on Jonelle’s street at that exact time that her abduction happened. There were also no forensics connecting him to Jonelle. And there was no proof Steve even knew Jonelle existed.

One more thing on Steve and the trial, I have begun a kind of pen pal connection with Steve. I wrote him in July 2022 and he has written back. He is still professing his innocence.

Ed , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

How I got into true crime podcasting?

I have always had an interest in disappearances. Since I was like 5 years old. Why? I don’t know. And when the Internet came along in the 1990’s, reading up on disappearances was one of the first things I did. Jodi Huisentruit’s was one of the first ones I can remember following very closely starting in 1995.

Then, I gained experience in writing, public speaking, and performing by working Las Vegas as an actor, which certainly helps when you’re a podcaster. Then podcasting came along in the late 2000’s. Eventually, I decided to make the jump in August of 2016. I decided that this missing persons podcasting is what I’m going to do with my life–death or glory, as Iron Maiden says. And I’m still doing it 7 years later. Trust me, though, luck has played a large role in getting to this point. A lot of things have gone my way outside of me just working hard.

As for what Unfound’s brand is, it’s a few things. First, by doing interviews with friends and family of the missing people, I try to provide the most facts of any show/program/podcast out there. When people finish an episode, I want them to know more about a disappearance than they thought they ever could. In addition, frankly, I’m trying to provide more information than anybody else. So, there is a concerted effort to be the most informative podcast–it doesn’t just happen by accident.

Second, no sensationalism. Unfound is a new program, not an entertainment one. There are no innuendos. No theorizing. No running off on tangents just because somebody wrote something on Reddit or Websleuths. We don’t overstate items because doing so would be good for marketing or whatever. No embracing of conspiracy theories that other podcasts would use to make entire episodes. Unfound is a lean mean fact machine.

Third, behind the scenes, given that I’ve covered over 300 disappearances now, I counsel families on what they might want to try next in bringing their cases to resolutions. They know more about their disappearances than I do. However, I have more overall experience than they do. So, with our respective strengths, we try to come together to form new avenues of inquiry and thought. This is all done off the record and behind closed doors. Nothing said in those sessions ever makes to the public.

So, I am not just a reporter. I am investigator. A researcher. A counselor. I wear a lot of hats with this job.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What has helped build my and Unfound’s reputation in the true crime community is that I don’t treat the listeners like they’re idiots. I don’t spoon feed theories to them–which is unfortunately what too many true crime podcasts do. Anybody can come up with a theory. Whereas, it takes real work to find new solid information.

The audience is a bunch of very smart people and I treat them as such. I get as many facts out of the guests as possible and the listeners are more than educated enough to come to their own conclusions. I don’t tell them what to think. Yes, given my experience, I may coax them along on how to think. But I never argue with them about theories–if they think differently than I do, totally fine.

It’s this kind of open-mindedness and free flowing of ideas and the respecting of people’s different POV”s that has made Unfound prominent and unique at the same time.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Keeping a podcast monetarily solvent is no easy task, even when a podcast gets over a million downloads a year like Unfound does. I rely on a variety of different income streams. Patreon. Paypal. YouTube membership. YouTube advertising, Spotify advertising. Merchandise sales. Etc. All of it is needed.

If you’re a person who is already famous–actor, athlete, musician, politician, then the podcasting money comes easily. However, if you’re an average person starting a podcast like I was and still am, you gotta fight for every dollar and have as many income streams as possible. Luckily, the genre of true crime is very popular so it seems there will always be an interest in it.

Contact Info:

• Website: theunfoundpodcast.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/unfoundpodcast
• Facebook: facebook.com/unfoundpodcast
• Twitter: twitter.com/unfoundpodcast
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheUnfoundPodcastChannel/videos
• Other: Patreon.com/unfoundpodcast Paypal.me/unfoundpodcast

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