A Pennsylvania man will spend the rest of his life in prison for driving his girlfriend across the country and luring her into the Nevada desert for a “bondage photo shoot,” affixing her to a signpost with zip ties, duct taping her mouth and nose, and watching her die.
John Matthew Chapman, 44, learned his fate on Friday in the killing of Jaime Rae Feden, 33, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release. He was convicted in May of kidnapping resulting in death.
“The defendant violated the victim’s trust by luring her away from her family and friends in Pennsylvania and out into the Nevada desert where he viciously killed her,” said U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada. “This sentence should send a clear message to others that kidnapping and killing another person will result in a substantial prison sentence. Thank you to our federal and local law enforcement partners for their hard work in bringing justice for the victim’s family.”
The series of events leading to the killing and Chapman’s arrest began in September 2019 when the defendant told Feden they were going on a house-hunting vacation in Las Vegas where they would “potentially get married,” according to a court document. The couple drove nearly 2,200 miles across the country from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to Sin City.
“Although the victim believed she was going to be starting a new life with Chapman, she was unaware of his true plan, which was to kill her,” court documents said.
Authorities noted Chapman had searched online for “dump,” “body,” and “Nevada” the night before the couple arrived in Las Vegas on Sept. 23, 2019.
Two days later, he convinced her to go into the desert in Lincoln County, Nevada, more than 150 miles north of Las Vegas, under the guise of participating in a sadomasochistic and bondage-themed photo shoot, court documents said.
Then, he tied his nude girlfriend with zip ties and affixed her to a signpost, court documents said.
“After applying duct tape to her mouth and then to her nose, Chapman watched the victim die from asphyxiation,” court documents said.
After that, he left her body next to the post and traveled back to Pennsylvania, discarding her clothing at spots along the way.
Authorities said he used her cellphone to impersonate her, sending text messages to her friend, pretending she was still alive while using the dead woman’s home and money.
The case came to light on Oct. 5, 2019, after an 8-year-old traveling with grandpa found the body about a mile off of a dirt road on federal land and found a body, Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee told Pittsburgh’s NBC/Cox Media Group affiliate WPXI.
“They saw what they thought was a dead animal a ways away from the road,” Lee said. “And so they went to investigate and found that it was actually the body of a nude female.”
There was no ID and the body was in the early stages of decomposition, the agency said in a news release.
She remained unidentified until Nov. 15, 2019, when the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office learned that the Bethel Park Police Department had arrested Chapman as a suspect in Feden’s disappearance. Police said Feden’s neighbors reported seeing who they thought was Chapman going in and out of her home, where police found ID cards with his name and photo, her cellphone, zip ties, and a roll of duct tape in her home, prosecutors said. Authorities in Nevada confirmed the identity of the remains as Feden from her slight 4-foot-1-inch frame, previous medical procedures, a tattoo and dental records.
As Law&Crime reported, friend Nikki Lawrence told Buzzfeed that Feden’s relatives and friends didn’t like the relationship with Chapman, but Feden stood her ground. Lawrence described an ugly relationship and said he was “very mean” to her and used her for money. Once, the owner of a bar chased Chapman down a street when Feden showed up with two black eyes, Lawrence said.
Chapman was married to another woman. Maureen Chapman said her husband had been living a “double life” and that he admitted the murder to her while calling from the police station.
“Oh my God, it’s sick,” she told WPXI. “It’s really sick.”
