Evil liar tricked pal into killing ex

When Jessica Rehfeld vanished, her family faced a long wait for answers - before learning five men were to blame

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Jessica's family had to wait 10 years to see her killers imprisoned

The messages that Jessica Rehfeld, 22, was getting from her ex-boyfriend were deeply offensive and becoming increasingly threatening.

She had dated Jonathan Klinetobe, then 26, on and off from 2014 until April 2015, when they finally broke up. Klinetobe accused Jessica of being unfaithful and started to threaten her through phone calls, texts and on social media.

Klinetobe told her she deserved to get “beat and raped everyday” and told her to “go kill yourself it would do the whole world some good”. Jessica was frightened and on 12 May she took out a protective order and said she felt her life was in danger.

Jessica, who lived in Rapid City, South Dakota, told her loved ones she was worried. She was a strong, confident young woman so it was unusual for her to express concern. Then she went missing. She didn’t turn up for work at the local Walmart on 18 May and her family contacted the police.

At first, officers believed something might have happened to Jessica, but there were a few unconfirmed witness sightings. She was last seen with two men on 18 May, but other people said they'd seen her too. It was thought that perhaps she’d left the area to escape the relationship. Klinetobe was questioned but said he didn’t know where she was.

Months went by and there were no further sightings. Her family hoped she'd simply moved away and thought she’d be in touch when she was settled. Then, a year after she vanished, a witness went to the police and everything changed.

The woman said she'd given a friend a lift to a location several times because he suffered from seizures and couldn’t drive. The man had eventually confessed it was where Jessica's body was buried. When she realised he’d played a part in killing Jessica, the woman had wanted to go to the police, but the man had threatened to kill her too.