Cold Justice returns to Abilene to work historic Jennifer Servo case

Cold Justice is returning to Abilene to shine a light on a case that rocked the nation in 2002. Jennifer Servo, a young and bright television news reporter, was cut down in her prime when she was found allegedly murdered in her Abilene apartment. News outlets across the nation watched as the Abilene Police Department tirelessly worked the case.

As the years unfolded, the case appears to have gone cold, but the Abilene police never stopped pursuing her killer and looking for justice for her family. They left no stone unturned but unfortunately have not yet made an arrest in this controversial case.

Cold Justice, a cold-crime investigative series, came to Abilene, with a desire to help and with nearly unlimited resources. Will the case find a resolution similar to the long-unsolved double homicide from 1981? The world waits and holds its breath in anticipation of this episode of Cold Justice which will air this season.

Young reporter's killer still on the loose?

According to the Justice for Jennifer website, Jennifer Olsen Servo was "a 22-year-old news reporter from Columbia Falls, Montana." She was a dedicated and energetic reporter with a bright future. After graduating college with a degree in journalism, she moved to Abilene after being offered a job with a local television news station.

In the summer of 2002, she moved almost 1,700 miles south with then-boyfriend Ralph Sepulveda, whom she had met when she was in the Army Reserves, according to The Crime Wire. Servo had only been dating Sepulveda for a short time before moving south with him.

A few weeks before her untimely death, Servo had reportedly found out that Sepulveda had left behind an ex-fiancé and a child in Montana. She subsequently broke off the relationship, and Sepulveda reportedly moved out of their shared apartment.

Servo was then found dead in her Abilene apartment a little over 61 days after moving to Abilene. Her coworkers reportedly had not heard from her in two days and went to check on her, when they found her body.

According to the official police report from APD obtained by The Reporter-News, Servo was discovered on September 18, 2002, and was pronounced dead at the scene by apparent "head trauma" at 5:35 p.m. that afternoon.

Detectives later discovered that she was allegedly strangled and sexually assaulted, with no signs of forced entry.

According to now-retired APD Detective, David Atkins, Servo was apparently nervous after moving to a new city and was not the type of person to open her door to anyone - let alone after midnight. Some reports noted that she had even obtained a local P.O. Box so that no mail would arrive to her actual residence.

At the time, police thought the suspect could be either her ex-boyfriend Sepulveda, or the local weatherman Brian Travers, who she had recently befriended. At the time of publication, there have been no arrests in this case, although there remain several persons of interest.

This triggering case has stayed cold now for over two decades and has remained on the mind of many Abilenians who are haunted by it.

Possible leads & remaining questions

Several questions remain after many details have been leaked about the case. According to some reports, library books were checked out on Servo's college library card after she was allegedly murdered. What library books were checked out? Was it a message from her killer?

In 2002, the Abilene Police Department apparently took DNA from six people close to Servo. Were all six a match for DNA found in her apartment? Who on that list became a suspect? Which of those suspects has taken a polygraph?

In February 2016, the Abilene Police Department revealed that there were new leads in the case. What were those leads, and why were they never published?

If her friends identified DVD's missing from her apartment, what were they and were they ever found?

Some unsolved crime podcasts and YouTube channels noticed the similarities between this crime and that of the murder of Ann Pressly in 2008 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Pressly was also a young television news anchor who died several days after being found beaten in her home.

Curtis Vance was found guilty, however, of that murder, and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. It appears as though the cases are unrelated, but could there be a missing link?

Resolution on the horizon?

Detective Jeff Cowan of APD's Cold Case Unit took over the Servo case in 2020 and has since "lost sleep over it." He described cold cases in general as "a different breed- which require a fresh set of eyes, countless hours of research, more manhours, and also more funding, as advanced lab testing usually leads to higher costs."

Cowan also described the huge benefit of having the Cold Justice team, as they were a "well-oiled machine, openly seeking justice for the victims and answers/closure for the families." Now, Cowan sees hope in the case and recently sat down with The Reporter-News to discuss it.

Cowan highlighted that Cold Justice helped with many aspects of this "extremely research heavy investigation." The Cold Justice team brought "experience and tenacity" to the table, and "dissected the investigation," always letting the evidence lead first.

The team also helped financially, sending old evidence to private labs for advanced DNA testing, which sometimes occurred in a timelier manner.

In the end, however, he notes that "the goal was always to find resolution on this (Jennifer Servo) case."

Detective Cowan urges every citizen that “this case is open and active.” Any information you could provide to investigators would help, no matter how small. This is true of all cases as APD seeks the closure of all active cases.

If you wish to remain anonymous, please contact Abilene Crime Stoppers online or at 1-800-868-TIPS (8477).

In the coming weeks, Reporter-News will be releasing exclusive interviews with local detectives surrounding this controversial case. Check back to see what our investigation team has uncovered.

All suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Cold Justice returns to Abilene to work historic Jennifer Servo case