Richard and Maurine Kanka and their three children lived in a small town in New Jersey. On 29 July 1994 their daughter Megan was lured into a neighbor's house to see a non-existent puppy. There she was raped and murdered by her , Jesse Timmendequas. Timmendequas had just recently been released from prison after his second conviction on sexual offenses against children. He had served six of the ten years of his sentence. Searches for the girl turned up nothing. The local police quickly focused on three known sex offenders living across the street from the missing girl. Police released two of the suspects when they verified where they were. Timmendequas became the main suspect. He was released after several hours of . After obtaining a detectives searched Timmendequas's trash and found a piece of Megan Kanka's clothing. Timmendequas was questioned again and after several hours told police "She's in the park." When police then asked if she was still alive Timmendequas said "No, she's dead. I put a over her head."