The murder of Megan Kanka occurred on July 29, 1994 in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. The 7 year old Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbour Jesse Timmendequas. The murder attracted national attention and subsequently led to the introduction of "Megan's Law", which requires law enforcement to disclose details relating to the location of registered sex offenders.
Kanka's family set up a charitable foundation, the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation, with the aim of preventing crimes against children.
Contents |
Jesse K. Timmendequas (born April 15, 1961) had two previous convictions for sexually assaulting young girls. In 1979 he pleaded guilty to the attempted aggravated sexual assault of a five-year-old girl in Piscataway Township, New Jersey. He was given a suspended sentence but, after failing to go to counseling, he was sent for nine months to the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center. In 1981, Timmendequas pleaded guilty in regards to the assault of a seven-year-old girl, and was imprisoned at the Adult Diagnostic & Treatment Center (ADTC) in Avenel, New Jersey for six years.[1]
Timmendequas reportedly participated little in the treatment program offered at the ADTC. He was described by one therapist who treated him at the facility as a "whiner" who spent most of his time sleeping. Another therapist stated that she had believed that Timmendequas would eventually commit another sex crime (although she did not believe he would commit murder).[1]
Timmendequas lured Kanka into his house by offering to show her a puppy. He subsequently raped Kanka, slammed her head onto a dresser, put two plastic bags over her head and strangled her to death with a belt. He moved her body to his truck, assaulting her a further time before placing the body in a wooden toy chest and dumping it in nearby Mercer County Park. The next day, he confessed to investigators and led police to the site.[2]
Evidence including bloodstains, hair, and fiber samples, as well as a bite mark matching Kanka's teeth on Timmendequas' hand, led to Timmendequas being found guilty of kidnapping, four counts of aggravated sexual assault, and two counts of felony murder — committing murder in the course of a felony.[2]
The court sentenced Timmendequas to death, and the sentence was upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court on appeal.[3] Congressman Dick Zimmer stated, "I believe he is exactly the kind of predator that the legislature had in mind when it enacted the death penalty."
Timmendequas remained on New Jersey's Death Row until December 17, 2007, when the New Jersey Legislature abolished the state's death penalty. This ban resulted in Timmendequas's sentence being commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[4][5]
One month after the murder, the New Jersey General Assembly passed a series of bills proposed by Paul Kramer that would require sex offender registration, with a database tracked by the state, community notification of registered sex offenders moving into a neighborhood and life in prison for repeat sex offenders. Kramer expressed incredulity at the controversy created by the bills, saying that "Megan Kanka would be alive today" if the bills he proposed had been law.[6]