Murdered Teacher Had Concerns About Meeting Alleged Killers
ST. JOHNSBURY, VT (CBS) - Investigators say Melissa Jenkins was lured from her home and strangled. Police say the couple who knew Jenkins called and told her their car broke down. She agreed to help, but it was a trap.
In an exclusive interview, one of Jenkins' friends tells WBZ she was worried.
Jenkins said she had gotten a bad feeling about Allen Prue before. So she called a good friend before going to meet him and his wife. That phone call didn't save her life, but it did help police crack the case.
READ: Couple Arrested In Teacher's Murder
Allen Prue and his wife Patricia are accused of strangling the young teacher as her two year old son sat in her car. Prosecutors say they lured her with phony story that their car had broken down.
Prue used to plow Melissa Jenkins' driveway. But she stopped hiring him a couple years ago. She told friends at the restaurant she works at that he "gave her the creeps."
That's why before she went to meet the Prues, Melissa called her longtime friend, Randy Rathburn and gave him all of Prue's information.
"I did have concerns," says Rathburn. "I told her that if she did not call me within an hour I would really be a little worried. From there, I did check on her and found what I found."
Police say when they tracked down Allen Prue, he confessed to the whole thing. He told them he was driving around with his wife and got the idea to "go get a girl." He admitted that both he and Patricia strangled Melissa and then brought her to their trailer where they removed her clothes and doused her with bleach.
