Cheryl Feeney

On a quiet street in Springfield, Missouri, Cheryl Feeney was building a life with her family. At 35 years old, she was a mother to two young children: a bright and energetic six-year-old son, Tyler, and a sweet 18-month-old daughter, Jennifer. Friends and family remember her as a loving and dedicated mother. That life was brutally extinguished in the final days of February 1995, leaving a community in shock and a case that remains one of the state's most haunting unsolved mysteries.

The tragic discovery was made on the morning of Monday, February 27, 1995. When Cheryl, a female, failed to show up for work, a concerned coworker went to the family’s home at 1993 W. Nottingham Street. Finding the front door unlocked, she entered with a police officer to find a scene of unimaginable horror. The house had been ransacked, but investigators would later come to believe the disarray was staged to look like a robbery gone wrong. In their bedrooms, police found the bodies of Cheryl and her two children. Cheryl and Tyler had been beaten to death, suffering multiple blunt-force trauma wounds to their faces and necks. Little Jennifer was found strangled, a cord from a window blind tied around her neck. One detective described it as the worst murder scene he had ever witnessed.

At the time of the murders, Cheryl's husband and the children's father, Jon Feeney, was away from Springfield. A chemistry teacher at Glendale High School, he was attending a science teachers' conference at the Tan-Tar-A resort at the Lake of the Ozarks, a trip he had begun on Saturday, February 25. He told police he had tried calling home on Sunday evening but received no answer. When he was located and informed of the deaths, the investigation almost immediately began to focus on him.

For more than a year, the Springfield Police Department and its Major Case Squad built a circumstantial case against Jon Feeney. Investigators scrutinized his alibi and personal life, uncovering evidence of extramarital affairs. Prosecutors developed a theory that financial strain and a desire to collect on a $500,000 life insurance policy were potential motives. In April 1996, a grand jury indicted Jon Feeney on three counts of first-degree murder.

The trial began in September 1996 and drew intense media attention. The prosecution presented its case, highlighting Jon Feeney's infidelity and the insurance payout. However, the defense team emphasized the complete lack of physical evidence connecting him to the crime scene. No DNA, fingerprints, or murder weapon definitively linked him to the brutal killings. His alibi, while questioned, could not be conclusively disproven. After a week-long trial and deliberation, a jury acquitted Jon Feeney of all charges on October 5, 1996.

In the decades since the verdict, the case has grown cold, but it has not been forgotten. The murders left a lasting scar on the Springfield community and on the hearts of Cheryl Feeney's family, including her mother, Lynn Hasch. The case has been revisited in news stories and true-crime podcasts, including the second season of "Ozarks True Crime," which explored the deep divisions in the community over whether Jon Feeney was a grieving husband and father or a killer who escaped justice. Journalists who covered the case at the time have shared their extensive files, hoping to shed new light on the events.

As of March 2026, the triple homicide of Cheryl, Tyler, and Jennifer Feeney remains officially unsolved. No other suspects have ever been publicly named or charged in connection with the crime. The Springfield Police Department continues to hold the case file, waiting for a new lead, a new technology, or a witness to come forward with the information needed to finally bring justice to a mother and her two innocent children.