Man sentenced to life imprisonment in killing of Bethel Park woman outside of Las Vegas

A man who kidnapped, murdered, and left the body of a Bethel Park woman in a Nevada desert will spend the rest of his life in prison.

A Nevada judge sentenced John Chapman, 44, to the maximum possible penalty on Friday after a federal jury convicted him of kidnapping resulting in death.

Las Vegas FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans said the sentencing holds Chapman accountable for the "callous and brutal" murder of Jaime Feden, 33. "We hope it will bring a sense of closure to [her] family," he said.

Chapman, formerly of Maryland, had spent four years awaiting trial for the death of Feden, who disappeared in September 2019. Her body was found in the desert about 20 miles outside of the Las Vegas strip in October 2019; she remained a Jane Doe until she was identified via dental records a month later.

The investigation of her death was a collaborative effort between the Federal Bureau of Information, Bethel Park police and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office in Nevada.

Chapman, with whom Feden had a tumultuous relationship, confessed to killing her when Bethel Park police questioned him about her disappearance. He had returned to Bethel Park and was living in Feden's home, passing it off as his own.

He also pretended to be Feden, using her Facebook messenger account and stealing her money, investigators said.

When police searched the Timberidge Drive home, they found what they described as a "kill kit" — specifically, a backpack containing a roll of duct tape and plastic zip ties.

Feden lived with VATER syndrome, which is a cluster of birth defects that can affect physiological systems and bone and organ structure. She was just over 4 feet tall and weighed 75 pounds.

Investigators said Chapman told them he drove Feden from Bethel Park to Lincoln County under the guise of potentially purchasing a home. From there, they said he persuaded her to go into the desert for a bondage-themed photo shoot. In the desert, he tied her to a signpost and covered her mouth and nose with duct tape until she suffocated. Photos of the crime scene were discovered on Chapman's phone.

Attorneys for Chapman, though, contended that the trip was a planned, consensual vacation and that Feden's death was an accident.

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(c)2024 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette