Pennsylvania man charged in desert bondage death, social media impersonation case
02/29/2020 11:21 am PST
via WITI:
PITTSBURGH (WITI) -- Federal prosecutors charged a Pennsylvania resident with kidnapping resulting in death after he allegedly lured a woman to the Nevada desert, killed her and moved into her house, authorities say.
John Matthew Chapman, 40, is set to appear in federal court in western Pennsylvania on Monday on one count of kidnapping resulting in the death of Jaime Feden, 33.
Chapman told police he convinced Feden in September to drive with him from Pennsylvania to Las Vegas under the guise of a vacation and the potential to move there together, the criminal complaint says. They arrived in Vegas around September 23.
Two days later, he told her they were doing a desert “bondage-themed photo shoot.” He bound her hands and feet with zip ties, affixed her to a signpost, and duct-taped her mouth and nose until she died from suffocation, the complaint says. He then removed the tape, zip ties and her clothing, and left her body there, according to the complaint.
Feden's body was found after a family stopped for a bathroom break near a desert outside Las Vegas on October 5.
Chapman told police he tied her to a signpost in the Nevada desert and suffocated her to death, according to the criminal complaint. He then posed as her on social media to communicate with her family after she was dead, police say.
Inside the victim's residence, investigators found a fake CIA identification card with Chapman's name and photograph, the victim's cellphone, multiple zip ties and a roll of duct tape.
Chapman returned to Pennsylvania after her death and used the victim's residence, passing it off as his own, investigators said.
