Lead detective in John Chapman case talks exclusively with Channel 11

BETHEL PARK, Pa. — For close to five years, Lt. Joelle Dixon with the Bethel Park Police Department has been leading the investigation into the kidnapping and death of Jaime Feden, at the hands of John Chapman.

Just last week, she was a key player in securing a guilty verdict in Chapman’s federal cross-country kidnapping and killing trial in Las Vegas. When she returned back to Bethel Park, she sat down exclusively with Channel 11 to talk about what justice looks like for Jaime, why the case is personal to her, and what comes next.

“It was temporary relief for everyone involved including the family,” Lt. Dixon said about the guilty verdict. “We know we still have work to do.”

That includes Chapman standing trial in Nevada for state murder and kidnapping charges in the death of Jaime Feden. Dixon says that trial will likely go sometime in 2025 and will be the next step in the pursuit of justice for Jaime and her loved ones.

“As a woman, I recognize fierceness in other women and Jaime had a fierceness about her,” Lt. Joelle Dixon tells Channel 11.

Lt. Dixon says despite the physical and mental disabilities and challenges Jaime Feden faced from a young age, she quickly learned Jaime had a tenacity about her.

“I think I learned from Jaime that she embodied perseverance,” Lt. Dixon said.

In 2019, Dixon was a detective for Bethel Park Police. Her department was contacted by family and friends of Jaime Feden to do a welfare check at her Bethel Park townhouse. Loved ones said they hadn’t heard from Jaime for weeks and they didn’t believe she was the one behind text messages and emails coming from her phone.

“Our officers listened to them, and they kept calling them out and everyone stayed up all night and said, ‘We’re going to keep listening until we can figure out what’s happening here,’” Dixon tells Channel 11. “They’re grateful we listened to them.”

Within seven hours, John Chapman was in custody and Bethel Park Police were able to get a videotaped confession after catching Chapman in a web of lies. In that confession, Chapman led police to the location where he said he killed Jaime Feden - off a rural road in Lincoln County, Nevada. Lt. Dixon says they have all of the evidence to corroborate his confession.

“This is a beyond horrible tragedy and even after it’s all over, most people think, how could this happen?” Dixon added.

Lt. Dixon says her department and law enforcement partners on this case are committed to seeing this through, for as long as it takes, for Jaime.

“There is one consistency through this - everyone described her the same: loved people, a little stubborn and tenacity like no other,” Lt. Dixon said. “So, that’s Jaime Feden. She had a love of life. She believed in someone, and that person let her down in a horrible way.”

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