Found Deceased IA - Jake Wilson, 16, La Porte City, 07 Apr 2018 *autistic*

[inmyhumbleopinion]

I sympathize with the grief stricken father. But I feel for the stepfather too. Trying to 'watch' a 16 yr old with special needs is so very difficult. they have the same teen angst, and hormonal, rebellious streak as any 16 yr old boy does. It is hard to totally corral them.

If he really wanted to take off, it'd be hard to prevent it. You are met with a 16 yr old that is going to give you rational arguments about them being 'nearly grown.' Even if they are autistic or have other special needs, they will give you valid teen arguments for independence. And you need to listen to those requests because you want them to mature and be responsible.

It is so hard. My heart goes out to them.

Until yesterday, I didn’t realize that Jake had left his glasses at home when he left for the creek that night. It made me wonder if he had been crying.

 

[Jaclin]

So sad.

Just want to point out for future cases how many times we see this after someone is finally found.

"Area had been searched before"

We have to remember that it is very common that people are missed during early searches. We need to search, search, and search it again and again until we really are sure the person is no longer possibly there.

This is all too common and there are many reasons why a body is not always found the first time an area is searched. Things like

*People in early searches are anxious to help and its very common that people search too quickly as they want to keep moving to other new areas to look.

Sometimes a better approach is to take 3-5 steps and then count to 20 while looking all around yourself. Then rinse and repeat. It will seem like way too slow but will allow a more careful search.

*A body may be very well hidden by brush or other debri and so even if you are standing one foot away from a body you still may not see it.

This. Our family cat went missing one day, and it was theorized that she jumped into the crawlspace. At the time, the area was full of water due to storms and the pump coming unplugged. My dad claimed to have looked all over under there, but my mom and I were pretty sure her being down there was the only explanation how she disappeared. So, one morning I went down there with a strong flashlight. It illuminated the entire space. I was less than a foot away when I thought I saw a pile of leaves. Turns out the pile of leaves was actually the cat. She was underwater not far from the hole in the garage where she likely jumped from the entire time. Poor Jake could have fallen into the water, gotten sucked in by an undertow and gotten pinned under a fallen tree. When they checked the area he may have been covered by mud or other debris and simply overlooked. Really sad.

 

[whatsnext]

I feel deeply for the whole family, and I am not very surprised that their emotions go crazy at a time like this.
Four months of waiting and hoping is a long time. I hope they will learn to deal with Jake's death and with each other again one day. This is a really tough time for them now, I can't even begin to imagine. I wish them strength.

 

[kelsie]

Does anyone know why the dad is so upset with the stepdad & mom? Perhaps Jake left for a walk that night because he got into an argument with his stepdad, and maybe texted his dad before he went? (speculation only)

 

[Gardener1850]

Until yesterday, I didn’t realize that Jake had left his glasses at home when he left for the creek that night. It made me wonder if he had been crying.

I didn't know that either. You could be right that he ran away without his glasses because he was upset about something. Maybe he couldn't see well enough without them and fell in the river. But that detail also makes me wonder about foul play, which I didn't previously suspect in this case. The anger from all 3 of his parents in that fight video strikes me as off for some reason. I know anger is often part of the grieving process but there seemed to be all rage and no tears from any of them (at least in that video). If the anger is misplaced (and this was just a tragic accident) I hope they all can move past it and stop blaming each other. I hope the ME is able to determine something definite from Jake's remains.

 

[Pixie Dust]

Does anyone know why the dad is so upset with the stepdad & mom? Perhaps Jake left for a walk that night because he got into an argument with his stepdad, and maybe texted his dad before he went? (speculation only)

Wondering the same...

 

[PaulR]

Does anyone know why the dad is so upset with the stepdad & mom? Perhaps Jake left for a walk that night because he got into an argument with his stepdad, and maybe texted his dad before he went? (speculation only)

Their job was to watch and protect Jake and they didn't.

Arresting him the same day they find his dead child - I get it was assault, I get he had to be charged, let the guy grieve for a few hours.

 

[Stunned]

So sad.

 

[kelsie]

Anyone know how long Jake's mom has been with the stepdad?

When I was 16, my mom had just gotten remarried. I ran away from home at least three times; I absolutely despised my stepdad. He was really hard on me and didn't have kids of his own so he didn't really know how to react to anything kids did (let alone the moody teenager I happened to be, and I was also battling a chronic illness). This could be a similar story for Jake. That's just the vibe I get.

 

[quidnunc247]

Their job was to watch and protect Jake and they didn't.

Arresting him the same day they find his dead child - I get it was assault, I get he had to be charged, let the guy grieve for a few hours.

I think this is a very unfair statement to the families of autistic children. We do our best to keep our children safe while dealing with the scrutiny we face from the public when our children goes missing.

“Using parent surveys, the researchers found that nearly half of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) attempt to wander or bolt from a safe, supervised place. More than half of these wandering children go missing – often into dangerous situations.

Importantly, the researchers found evidence that autism-related wandering does not stem from inattentive parenting. It also found that half of all parents had received no help or guidance on how to deal with the problem.”


Study Confirms: Autism Wandering Common & Scary

 

[swanniee11]

as it stands for me right now, I hope charges are dropped,such a difficult time for the whole family. They don't need this on top of everything. IMO

 

[Gardener1850]

I think this is a very unfair statement to the families of autistic children. We do our best to keep our children safe while dealing with the scrutiny we face from the public when our children goes missing.

“Using parent surveys, the researchers found that nearly half of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) attempt to wander or bolt from a safe, supervised place. More than half of these wandering children go missing – often into dangerous situations.

Importantly, the researchers found evidence that autism-related wandering does not stem from inattentive parenting. It also found that half of all parents had received no help or guidance on how to deal with the problem.”


Study Confirms: Autism Wandering Common & Scary

I may have misunderstood the whole exchange, but I didn't see it as a PaulR making a judgement of parents in general. I saw it as responding to the question put forth by Kelsie of why was Jake's dad was so angry with the stepdad and mom-- that may very well be what Jake's dad feels that they were supposed to protect him and they did not. I agree that we should be careful to not make snap judgements of any parents who have a special needs teen (or really any parents in general), but I don't think that is what was meant by the post. JMO.

 

[tjs77tsa4]

There was a letter written by his brother to him after he went missing that was shared by the media that offers more information about how Jake felt about moving from their farm to town when mom remarried I'm at work and I'm horrible at searching for specific articles if someone else wanted to look. There was also a news story in the very beginning that might help to better understand the anger amongst the family but I can't find it now.

 

[AllGrace]

I may have misunderstood the whole exchange, but I didn't see it as a PaulR making a judgement of parents in general. I saw it as responding to the question put forth by Kelsie of why was Jake's dad was so angry with the stepdad and mom-- that may very well be what Jake's dad feels that they were supposed to protect him and they did not. I agree that we should be careful to not make snap judgements of any parents who have a special needs teen (or really any parents in general), but I don't think that is what was meant by the post. JMO.

Yes - good words. I think anger would be a common emotion a parent would have toward ANYONE who was with their children. Childcare worker, grandparent, friend, step parent, even your own spouse. I didn't take this as ANYTHING specific with any child on the spectrum and the challenges in parenting them. Although, the challenges parenting them do perhaps play into this case.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

“HAPPENING TODAY: Investigators use K9's to search areas in, around Wolf Creek”
Posted: Aug 17, 2018 12:45 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 17, 2018 12:48 PM EDT

“LA PORTE CITY (KWWL) -Investigators are continuing to search the areas in and around Wolf Creek in La Porte City, after human remains were discovered by kayakers on Tuesday.

Le Porte City Police Chief Chris Brecher said three K9's will be used on Friday. Brecher said the dogs specialize in human remains detection. Brecher hopes the dogs will point investigators in the right direction.

Chief Brecher said investigators will be conducting smaller, more precise searches on Friday. He said the heavy rain on Thursday made the water in Wolf Creek murky. He told KWWL investigators may hold back large-scale operations until Monday, so the water has time to become more clear.

[SBM]

‘It's very meticulous on how we're collecting things, so we just really need the pubic to give us space to allow us to give the family the answers they need and deserve,’ he said.

Medical examiners and detectives are on call on Friday in case something is found and needs to be collected for evidence, according to Chief Brecher.” (BBM)
HAPPENING TODAY: Investigators use K9's to search areas in, around Wolf Creek

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

There was a letter written by his brother to him after he went missing that was shared by the media that offers more information about how Jake felt about moving from their farm to town when mom remarried I'm at work and I'm horrible at searching for specific articles if someone else wanted to look. There was also a news story in the very beginning that might help to better understand the anger amongst the family but I can't find it now.

I am sorry if this isn’t the one you are talking about, but I did find a letter that was written by Jake’s brother and published back in May. It really shows how much he loves Jake. I am heartbroken for both of them:

“Here is the letter Jake's brother wrote:

Dear Jake Wilson:

I am missing you so much Jake you don’t even know well I hope you do. We all miss you. I miss the old days that were the best days. Like at the old house in the country where you would want me to come with you across the road and and I wouldn’t say treasure hunt but you call it treasure witch was the best because anything you would find whether it’s like a sheet of metal or glass. You would bring that home and show everyone and we say Jake that’s junk. He would say no It’s my treasure and keep it in his room.Or he would find bones and think it was off a moose or some kind of animal that doesn’t live in Iowa. I remember when our Step Dad Jeremy would take us out in the cornfield and you would make noises and try to scare us and laugh. And then you tried going over the barbed wire fence and cut yourself and thought you needed to go to the hospital. I miss you waking me up in the morning with your music on purpose and I’d come in and say Jake turn it down. He did turn it down but when I walked back in my room he would go back to turn it back up to annoy me. You loved to annoy me no matter what. You would always go and pick peppers out of the garden and help make salsa out of them. I remember when you would love to show me what your doing on your Xbox. When you were bored with your gaming you would go out to the tire swing and hum your music that you would reply over and over. And you loved your brownies whenever I would take the last one you would get upset so I felt bad and I would give you football cards. Mostly the Chicago bears. Even when your not upset, once in awhile you would come in my room and ask for cards. When we moved into our new house, witch he hated because he missed all the animals and chickens and even Max our dog, but you would still love your music and games oh and waking me up in the morning. I started to hang out with my friends more and you would love to come walk around or go with us. We went to tooties and mom would give you like five bucks and you would order something that was 6. We laughed and tried correcting you and you finally got it. I am really happy for all the friends you had in high school or middle school they also made sure you felt welcomed here and happy. Like Bryan who was one of your best friends. When Bryan was in Florida he would call you and see what your doing and that your okay. He moved back and Bryan would come over and you would show him everything witch made my heart happy. You would also always go to grandma and grandpa's house and always made grandma cook for you and mess with her witch was hilarious. I wish I would take the time to do stuff with you Jake like going fishing or playing Yahtzee. I feel like I didn’t do much of that but when you come back I plan on going fishing with you and spending most of my time with you and even help you with homework. Come home Jake. Where all praying that your safe and nothing bad has happened to you. Everyone misses you.”
Dad shares son's letter for his missing La Porte City brother

 

[Fukiyama]

Until yesterday, I didn’t realize that Jake had left his glasses at home when he left for the creek that night. It made me wonder if he had been crying.

As someone who has worn glasses all my life, I could not fathom leaving my glasses behind while going outside. Maybe Jake wasn't nearsighted, but glasses wearers out there will know, your glasses pretty much become a part of your face. In school or other times when I've gotten hit in the face, my first instinct was not if I was hurt, it was "where are my glasses? are they intact?"

 

[Copper]

Does anyone know why the dad is so upset with the stepdad & mom? Perhaps Jake left for a walk that night because he got into an argument with his stepdad, and maybe texted his dad before he went? (speculation only)

As others have stated above, I think dad is blaming mom and stepdad, fairly or not, for not keeping Jake from going out. I am also suspecting there might be pre-existing animosity between dad and mom and between dad and stepdad, for whatever reason.

 

[Aymstriss]

Mom and stepdad have been together since Jake was 4 years old. They recently moved into town within the last year or two, they were married long before the move into La Porte from the rural part of La Porte. Jake only needed his glasses for school, they were really more of a comfort thing for him.

 

[ElementalLaura]

Possible that animals had been eating the remains?

And his body was in a creek with a current that would vary according to how low/high the creek is. Over time, clothing and other things may become separated (especially in moving water) and then be scattered by the current.
I'm sorry for this outcome.