Wednesday, May 1, 2024 | 9:40 p.m.
A man who told police he lured his Bethel Park paramour to Las Vegas under the guise of a vacation, tied her to a signpost, suffocated her and left her body in the desert was convicted Wednesday by a Nevada jury.
John Chapman, formerly of Maryland, spent four years awaiting a federal trial for the kidnapping death of Jaime Feden, a 33-year-old Bethel Park woman who disappeared in September 2019, though she was not reported missing until November. Her body was found in the desert about 20 miles outside of the Las Vegas Strip in October 2019; she remained a Jane Doe until she was identified via dental records a month later.
Chapman, with whom Feden had a tumultuous relationship, confessed to killing her when he was questioned by Bethel Park police about her disappearance. When he returned to Bethel Park, he started living in Feden's home, passing it off as his own.
When police searched the Timberidge Drive home, they found what they described as a "kill kit" — specifically, a backpack containing a roll of duct tape and plastic zip ties.
Feden lived with VATER syndrome, which is a cluster of birth defects that can affect myriad physiological systems and bone and organ structure. She was just over 4 feet tall and weighed 75 pounds.
Investigators said Chapman lied to Feden about the purpose of the trip to Nevada, telling her it was a vacation with some house hunting. From there, they said, he convinced her to go into the desert for a bondage-themed photo shoot. In the desert, he tied her to a signpost and covered her mouth and nose with duct tape until she suffocated. Photos of the crime scene were discovered on Chapman's phone.
Chapman disposed of Feden's clothing as he made the cross-country drive back to Bethel Park.
Attorneys for Chapman, though, contended that the trip was a planned, consensual vacation and Feden's death was an accident.
In the defense's statement of the case filed ahead of the trial, attorneys wrote that Feden died in an act of BDSM sex gone wrong. Because the trip to Nevada was consensual, they wrote, the kidnapping resulting in death charge didn't hold up. Any dispute as to the manner of Feden's death, according to the filing, is up to the state courts.
Jurors in the case began deliberations about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, federal court records show. They returned a verdict shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, finding Chapman guilty of the sole charge against him — kidnapping resulting in death.
Chapman's federal public defender told the court she would ask that the verdict be set aside and her client receive a new trial.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2.
