Jennifer Lynn Servo (born Jennifer Lynn Olson, September 23, 1979 – September 16, 2002) was an American news reporter whose murder remains unsolved. Servo worked as a news reporter at
KPAX-TV
KPAX-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Missoula, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stati ...
in
Missoula
Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
during her freshman year in college at the
University of Montana
The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...
, and later at
KECI-TV
NBC Montana is a regional network of three television stations in western Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Cities served include Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, and Bozeman. Most station opera ...
, which serves most of western Montana.
Background
Servo graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 1998; a scholarship was established in Servo's name at the school after her death. Servo stated that she had the ambition to be "the next
Katie Couric
Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, ...
" and to work for a large news network. Servo graduated from the University of Montana in May 2002.
Death
Servo was offered her first full-time news reporter job from
KRBC-TV
KRBC-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Abilene, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of dual ...
in
Abilene, Texas
Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...
. Just months after she began working at KRBC, she was found murdered by strangulation and head trauma in her Abilene apartment. Servo's boyfriend at the time, Ralph Sepulveda, became a prime suspect. Brian Travers, Servo's co-worker at KRBC, also became a suspect. The case remains unsolved and no arrests have been made.
In media
Servo's murder has been covered by numerous media outlets since 2002. Among the more notable are ''
America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
'' and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
' ''
48 Hours Mystery'' under the name of "Deadline for Justice".
Servo's story was also in the September 2003 issue of ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine.
See also
*
List of unsolved murders
These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances.
* List of unsolved murders (before 1900)
* List of unsolved murders (1900–1979)
* List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)
* List of unsol ...
References
External links
Justiceforjennifer Servo family site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Servo, Jennifer
1979 births
2002 deaths
American women television journalists
Deaths by beating in the United States
Deaths by strangulation in the United States
Female murder victims
Journalists from Montana
Journalists from Texas
Journalists killed in the United States
Murdered American journalists
People from Abilene, Texas
People from Columbia Falls, Montana
People murdered in Texas
University of Montana alumni
Unsolved murders in the United States
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American women
Deaths from head injury