SHOW / EPISODE

Jessie Kay Peters: When a Runaway Case Became a Murder Investigation

9m | Aug 5, 2026

At first, everyone believed fourteen-year-old Jessie Kay Peters had simply run away.

But as the years passed, the evidence told a different story.

In this episode of The Lost Girls Podcast, hosts Amy Smith and LaDonna Humphrey examine the heartbreaking disappearance of Jessie Kay Peters, who vanished from her Glendora, California home on March 29, 1996. What began as a runaway investigation would later become linked to two convicted killers already serving death sentences for another young girl's murder.

Amy and LaDonna explore the timeline of Jessie's disappearance, the investigative missteps that delayed progress, the shocking connection to Michael Forrest Thornton and Janeen Marie Snyder, and why law enforcement now believes Jessie was one of their earliest victims—even though her body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in her case.

This episode is a powerful reminder of how quickly assumptions can derail a missing child's investigation and why every missing person deserves to be taken seriously from the very beginning.

If you have information about the disappearance of Jessie Kay Peters, please contact the Glendora Police Department at (626) 914-8250.

Every missing girl has a story. Every family deserves answers. Every case deserves to be remembered.

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