Megan Kanka (Megan Nicole Kanka)

Megan Kanka

Jesse Timmendequas lured Megan Kanka into his house, raped her, and then killed her from strangulation with a belt. He then placed her body in nearby Mercer County Park. The next day, he confessed to investigators and led police to the site. Evidence included bloodstains, hair, and fiber samples, as well as a bite mark matching Kanka’s teeth on Timmendequas’ hand, and led to a guilty verdict on charges of kidnapping, four counts of aggravated sexual assault, and two counts of felony murder—committing murder in the course of a felony. The court sentenced Timmendequas to death, and the sentence was upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court on appeal. 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. As a result of the ban, Timmendequas’ sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. One month after the murder of Megan Kanka, the New Jersey General Assembly passed a series of bills proposed by Assemblyman Paul Kramer that would require sex offender registry, with a database tracked by the state, community notification of registered sex offenders moving into a neighborhood and then 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.

Born

  • December, 07, 1986
  • USA
  • Manhattan, New York

Died

  • July, 27, 1994
  • USA
  • Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey

Cause of Death

  • strangulation

Cemetery

  • Saint Mary's Cemetery
  • Trenton, New Jersey
  • USA

2061 profile views