Jennifer Servo

Jennifer Lynn Servo (born Jennifer Lynn Olson, September 23, 1979 – September 16, 2002) was an American news reporter whose murder is unsolved. In the early 2000s, she worked for KPAX-TV and KECI-TV in Montana, and KRBC-TV in Texas.

Servo was from Columbia Falls, Montana, and first worked as a reporter in Missoula. In August 2002, she moved to Abilene, Texas, to work her first full-time reporter job at KRBC-TV. On September 16, she was killed in her new apartment via blunt force trauma and strangulation. Two days later, after her coworkers reported her as missing at work, she was found dead in her bathtub. She was likely killed in her living room and then moved there. There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment or that she was sexually assaulted.

No arrests have been made in the case, which is still being investigated by Abilene police as of 2020. The absence of forced entry could imply that Servo knew her attacker, but it is not known if she had any enemies in the city. Investigators have suspected and cleared two men who both had romantic relationships with her previously, her former boyfriend and a KRBC coworker. The latter, who went shopping with her hours before her death, said they were being followed by another man during the trip.

Background Servo grew up in Columbia Falls, Montana. She went to Columbia Falls High School, where she was involved in cross country and cheerleading. Afterwards, she enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves. She stated that she had the ambition to be "the next Katie Couric" and to work for a large news network. She graduated from the University of Montana in May 2002, with a degree in journalism. She first worked at a local news station in Missoula, and then applied for a reporting position in Abilene, because she had a "romantic vision" of the state due to its cowboy culture. and moved to Abilene in August 2002, at age 22. The case is still being investigated by the Abilene Police Department as of 2020. though as of 2018, it is not clear what those leads were. In the 2020s, police sent old evidence to private labs for new DNA testing. the TV shows America's Most Wanted and 48 Hours Mystery, and the podcast Cold Justice. A scholarship was established in her name at the University of Montana after her death.