NE NE - Jason Jolkowski, 19, Omaha, 13 Jun 2001 - #3

[Andreee]

Thanks. I didn't know he had his cellphone with him, either. So they weren't able to trace it? Was that even possible in 2001?

Not sure. I'm just wondering if that meant that (of course) his family would've tried to call him and that it was turned off. So maybe that is all that was meant. Sounds like he had it with him though! I am guessing it wasn't found at home, so I assume that meant it was on him. IMO.

 

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

Not sure if this CNN article from 2009 has been posted here before, but it doesn't hurt to post it again now. It mentions some details about things I had been wondering about, particularly that Jason apparently had his cellphone with him, and that he had not used it. Also, I had wondered about his computer, and it does mention Jason's computer had been looked at as well.Missing teen's parents help other families cope - CNN.com

That article states 10:15 was the last time he was seen. I thought it was 10:30. Further, the reporter covering the recent 20 year anniversary of Jason's vanishing said he was seen walking away towards the school by the neighbor, and in others, such as in this article, it was that he was last seen by the curb in front of his driveway. 10:15 would suggest he would've had time to stop somewhere along the way, since, as I understand it, it was a 10-15 minute walk to the school. What time was he even supposed to meet his co-worker anyway?

It would be nice to know for sure when he was last seen, if he was seen walking in the direction of the school or not, what time specifically he was to meet his co-worker at the school, and when his work shift was to begin.

 

[Andreee]

That article states 10:15 was the last time he was seen. I thought it was 10:30. Further, the reporter covering the recent 20 year anniversary of Jason's vanishing said he was seen walking away towards the school by the neighbor, and in others, such as in this article, it was that he was last seen by the curb in front of his driveway. 10:15 would suggest he would've had time to stop somewhere along the way, since, as I understand it, it was a 10-15 minute walk to the school. What time was he even supposed to meet his co-worker anyway?

It would be nice to know for sure when he was last seen, if he was seen walking in the direction of the school or not, what time specifically he was to meet his co-worker at the school, and when his work shift was to begin.

Yes, I did notice that a few of the details didn't fall in line with what most reports have said. I was just interested in the cellphone part of what they said, hopefully that is correct. From what I've read in general, the neighbour had seen Jason bringing IN the trashcans and his brother had seen him walking away from their house in direction of the school. I do not recall the exact times Jason left his house and exactly when the boss called his house. But Jason's mother used to write on this thread a few years back plus it has been written more exact times, just a matter of finding that info again. Easy to forget a few things after time, at least for me

 

[CountSnap]

I always wondered if they had looked into the ping data from his cell phone. Might have been able to tell when the phone was shut off, if it was.
As in, was it shut off five minutes after walking down the street?
Or three hours later? Or other....

 

[Andreee]

I always wondered if they had looked into the ping data from his cell phone. Might have been able to tell when the phone was shut off, if it was.
As in, was it shut off five minutes after walking down the street?
Or three hours later? Or other....

Not sure if they had that technology 21 years ago readily available?

 

[CountSnap]

Not sure if they had that technology 21 years ago readily available?

Was figuring so, but yeah, didn't know for sure. Cell phone ping played a large role in the case of Adnan Syed in a case from 1999. So I thought it might have been available.
But, who knows for certain.

 

[deadinthewater]

I always wondered if they had looked into the ping data from his cell phone. Might have been able to tell when the phone was shut off, if it was.
As in, was it shut off five minutes after walking down the street?
Or three hours later? Or other....

Yeah, I actually assumed that he left it at home, because I feel I read (somewhere) that LE checked his computer and cellphone and there was nothing there. There's just very little information about this case. Like, reading up on it, it feels like LE didn't do enough. At the same time, maybe that information isn't public. I think it was Kelly on a podcast once stating that the employees of Fazoli's were thoroughly investigated /grilled about Jason. If I didn't hear that from her, I would think LE needed to look at Fazoli's more closely. Maybe they still do, I don't know. A lot of cold cases, it's circling back to those same people you thought were cleared.

 

[ekardh]

Although I would agree that the police didn't act quickly enough, I wonder in hindsight how much they could've done? They checked his computer, spoke to his friends, colleagues, and conducted door-to-door enquiries. If they had moved swifter, someone might have recalled something but the maddening thing about this case is the complete lack of solid leads. For me, it comes down to Jason getting lured by a sexual predator on the block or him agreeing to meet someone en route to the highschool. Scenario B is far more plausible in my eyes. There was only a small window of time for Jason to vanish, and he just happens to cross paths with a random killer? Not likely.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

and conducted door-to-door enquiries.

IMO it has been alleged on this thread that not all "neighbors" were ever interviewed.

That said, I don't think being sure to interview everyone in the neighborhood when an adult goes missing has ever been standard practice anywhere. Nor can I personally decide if it's realistic.

I do hope LE at least reached out to the neighborhood in some way. (When a violent crime was committed up the street from us in recent years, allegedly on an apartment balcony, the police did not interview everyone living nearby but did post a notice inside our building asking us to call or visit them if we remember hearing anything that night, etc.)

 

[Alleykins]

IMO it has been alleged on this thread that not all "neighbors" were ever interviewed.

That said, I don't think being sure to interview everyone in the neighborhood when an adult goes missing has ever been standard practice anywhere. Nor can I personally decide if it's realistic.

I do hope LE at least reached out to the neighborhood in some way. (When a violent crime was committed up the street from us in recent years, allegedly on an apartment balcony, the police did not interview everyone living nearby but did post a notice inside our building asking us to call or visit them if we remember hearing anything that night, etc.)

I think you're right about not all neighbors were interviewed. Studebkr said he lived behind them when Jason went missing, and they weren't interviewed. I don't think it's standard procedure to interview the whole neighborhood in an adult missing person case. It would be quite a task, but I would hope they knocked on doors along his most likely route to the school and left flyers around the neighborhood. They may have, but, we have no way of knowing.

 

[Andreee]

Although I would agree that the police didn't act quickly enough, I wonder in hindsight how much they could've done? They checked his computer, spoke to his friends, colleagues, and conducted door-to-door enquiries. If they had moved swifter, someone might have recalled something but the maddening thing about this case is the complete lack of solid leads. For me, it comes down to Jason getting lured by a sexual predator on the block or him agreeing to meet someone en route to the highschool. Scenario B is far more plausible in my eyes. There was only a small window of time for Jason to vanish, and he just happens to cross paths with a random killer? Not likely.

Yes, if we go by the generally reported times of Jason leaving the house at about 10:45 and the coworker phoning in/boss then phoning Jason's home at about 11:15, then that leaves a very tight time of about half an hour for him to disappear! Especially as the walk to the school itself is only about 15 minutes.

 

[MatthewTyler]

Wayback Machine

I used the WayBack Machine and found Jason's profile on the radio station website from back when he was on the air. The text is hidden in the white space, so in order to read his info you have to click and highlight in the white space. Nothing super significant, but it's just some fun facts about him. One thing of interest I did note was that in his "likes" section he put Email and Internet. I definitely think he had some sort of second life online. He also says he likes making people laugh and being honest. The last instance of JJ's profile being up was Feb 2001. On March 30, 2001 his profile is gone from their site, meaning sometime in Febuary or March is when he dropped out of the program.

ETA: the link I posted only brings you to the 89.7 homepage, so when you click the link, go to the left side of the page and click on "Who's on" and then scroll the people until you see "JJ".

 

[CountSnap]

Interesting....
Extremely interesting as always. Great find MT.
Doesn't like getting ripped off. Interesting comments for someone so young. I mean, no one does, but he is young to have really given that a thought. Interesting.

 

[Andreee]

Wayback Machine

I used the WayBack Machine and found Jason's profile on the radio station website from back when he was on the air. The text is hidden in the white space, so in order to read his info you have to click and highlight in the white space. Nothing super significant, but it's just some fun facts about him. One thing of interest I did note was that in his "likes" section he put Email and Internet. I definitely think he had some sort of second life online. He also says he likes making people laugh and being honest. The last instance of JJ's profile being up was Feb 2001. On March 30, 2001 his profile is gone from their site, meaning sometime in Febuary or March is when he dropped out of the program.

ETA: the link I posted only brings you to the 89.7 homepage, so when you click the link, go to the left side of the page and click on "Who's on" and then scroll the people until you see "JJ".

 

[Andreee]

Interesting! Which program did he drop out of?

 

[MatthewTyler]

Interesting! Which program did he drop out of?

The radio program at Iowa Western College. Half the "staff" on air were college students, but he had to leave school and so he had to leave the radio station.

 

[CountSnap]

Fantastic.
What to make of this?....

 

[MatthewTyler]

Fantastic.
What to make of this?....

At the very least, it could explain why nobody from Fazoli's ever spoke out or attended memorial events for him- they simply just didn't care.

 

[CountSnap]

Absolutely.
Also, was thinking about something odd.
The person who was to pick him up at the high school. She called the house again after he didn't show up.
He had a cell phone. Did he not give her (or Fazoli's) that number?
I would have thought so, unless he didn't want to be bothered of course.
Just an oddity? Or is it known that she did try his cell phone?

 

[Andreee]

Also found this Reddit conversation with a person who worked at Fazoli's with Jason. This was from a post almost a year ago about the 20th anniversary, but I never saw it until now. It gives some insight to his work life.

Interesting, I hadn't seen that either! It just kind of reaffirms to me what we've learned about Jason all along, that he was shy, quiet and IMO naive to the intentions of others.