Megan Kanka
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Megan Nicole Kanka (December 7, 1986 - July 29, 1994) was a young girl who was raped and murdered by her neighbor Jesse Timmendequas in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.
Timmendequas was already a convicted sex offender. Megan's death resulted in the New Jersey Legislature passing Megan's Law, which requires notification when a convicted sex offender moves into a neighborhood. Similar laws have since been passed throughout the United States.
Megan had approached Timmendequas' house on July 29, 1994; he tricked her inside by saying he had a puppy that was too young to come outside. Once Megan entered the house and found that the puppy did not exist, Timmendequas proceeded to rape her. Afterwards, Timmendequas to kill her by slamming her head into a dresser and suffocating her with a plastic bag; he finally strangled her to death with a belt. He moved her body to his car, where he raped her again before placing her in a toybox and dumping her in a park in nearby West Windsor. A jury later convicted Timmendequas of Kanka's rape and murder and sentenced him to death.
The Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation was founded in her memory.
