Jesse Timmendequas Trial: 1997

In May 1997, the 36-year-old Timmendequas went on trial in Trenton, New Jersey. In her opening statement, the chief prosecutor told the jury that Timmendequas had lured Megan into his house by promising to show her his puppy. According to his own statements he started to touch Megan and she screamed and tried to get away. Timmendequas was afraid that Megan would tell her mother so he grabbed her, ripping her shorts, then put a belt around her neck and pulled her back into his room. At some point in the struggle she bit Timmendequas's hand, and she fell and began bleeding. To keep the blood from getting on the carpet, Timmendequas put two plastic bags over her head and stuffed her into a large toy box he had converted into a tool chest.

The medical examiner testified that Megan had been deliberately strangled and sexually assaulted. Police detectives testified that Timmendequas had admitted to sexually assaulting Megan when they confronted him with the medical evidence, and that he had described the assault to police in a "flat and unemotional tone." He had also confessed that he had been "slipping for a while" and had been "getting those feelings for little girls … for a couple of weeks or a couple of months."

Timmendequas did not testify or present any witnesses during the guilt phase of the trial. His defense was presented through cross-examination and argument, and he was convicted on all counts.