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

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MatthewTyler said:
Sure he appreciated that! It's nice to see that they really haven't given up any hope for answers one day. Kelly posted about Jason too, and I saw that she answered someone's question about it being regarded as a homicide. She feels that the cops believe that Jason ran into some 'unsavory characters' who he didn't know and something happened. Guess nobody in the immediate neighborhood was suspicious enough for them to zero in on.
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I honestly don't think the police have a clue what happened to Jason. 20 years and there hasn't been a solid lead in this case that we know about.

?unknown? made a good post debunking the idea that Jason was abducted by a gang. I just don't see a roving gang of hoodlums or druggies grabbing a guy like Jason at 10am in a middle-class neighbourhood. Not without anyone seeing anything or anyone squealing after the fact. We're dealing with one person imo, who is hiding their guilt.

My memory's a little foggy. Was a neighbour's home searched? I remember we saw video of police searching someone's home, which turned out to be reused news footage from another case. However, was there still a house search connected to Jason's disappearance? The cops wouldn't search someone's home, willy-nilly. Perhaps there was an RSO living nearby or something?
 
ekardh said:
I honestly don't think the police have a clue what happened to Jason. 20 years and there hasn't been a solid lead in this case that we know about.

?unknown? made a good post debunking the idea that Jason was abducted by a gang. I just don't see a roving gang of hoodlums or druggies grabbing a guy like Jason at 10am in a middle-class neighbourhood. Not without anyone seeing anything or anyone squealing after the fact. We're dealing with one person imo, who is hiding their guilt.

My memory's a little foggy. Was a neighbour's home searched? I remember we saw video of police searching someone's home, which turned out to be reused news footage from another case. However, was there still a house search connected to Jason's disappearance? The cops wouldn't search someone's home, willy-nilly. Perhaps there was an RSO living nearby or something?
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Not trying to bash on the cops here, but these were the same people that waited 10 days to do anything at all AND the same people that put out a missing person's report on Samuel Sherman with supposed incorrect information on it. Not sure how much I would truly trust their word. It doesn't help that Kelly is definitely the type that would be on them at every step, so it must have been frusturating to not have any sort of lead and then to have Kelly demanding answers every day. She did mention at one point that the cops kept her out of the loop for awhile.

The gang theory doesn't seem plausible. Even ignoring the time of day and locale, it just isn't the M.O . of a street gang to make someone disappear. If there was a gang in Omaha terrorizing random people on the street, then why is it that Jason was the ONE time that a body was vanished? Why was there never another instance of this happening in the city again? (Excluding Sherman because that's just not concrete enough to compare). I think Jason was targeted specifically. Someone knew what they wanted, went for it, got away with it, and kept quiet. Though I do wonder if that was the end of their crime days. Many times when a cold case gets solved we find out that the perp is already in jail for another crime they committed later on. I'm curious if Jason's killer tried their luck again years later (maybe in a different state) and wasn't so lucky.

As for the neighbor's home being searched, this was something that was said by a user on here a few years ago. Supposedly he spoke to Kelly and she said this, but I've never actually seen her or Jim ever address this themselves.
 
The time he went missing is so strange. It doesn’t really fit for a lot of the proposed theories, like if he was hit by a car and the driver took his body and drove away to conceal it. How would a driver be able to clean up the scene leaving zero trace, handle Jason’s body, load up the car, etc in mere minutes before someone came by walking their dog or walked into their front yard (it was trash day), or whatever? On the other hand, the streets being pretty much dead with everyone at work is why it also seems odd that he would just stumble across a random gang or a serial killer or sex offender from out of town cruising around the area. These types of suburban areas are very quiet and dead at that time of day. I’ve always had the feeling that an older person targeted him, maybe a retiree or more or less housebound person living in the local area was driving along, saw him walking told him to jump in he’d run him down the block to the school and drove him away. It would have been someone he’d chatted to or was acquainted with a little bit otherwise he wouldn’t have got in the car. Whether this person targeted him that day intentionally for harm or it was something that happened on impulse who knows. Of course there’s other theories too like the accident one and others that need to be kept in mind but I can’t think of much else that would explain how no trace of him has ever been found, other than him being harmed somewhere away from the area.
 
?unknown? said:
On the other hand, the streets being pretty much dead with everyone at work is why it also seems odd that he would just stumble across a random gang or a serial killer or sex offender from out of town cruising around the area. These types of suburban areas are very quiet and dead at that time of day.
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Not necessarily. 10:30/11 am really isn't THAT early for kids to go out and play on a nice Summer day. Maybe teenagers would want to sleep in, but little kids tend to have more energy and would be out earlier playing in the yard or something. Plus, like you said there are retirees or even unemployed people or people who work odd hours. The houses around Jason's and on the route consisted of a fair number of older people, but also quite a few families as well. I find it hard to believe that there wouldn't be a single person outside that day on his route. Even the fact that a couple neighbors spotted him shows that he wasn't totally alone.
 
MatthewTyler said:
As for the neighbor's home being searched, this was something that was said by a user on here a few years ago. Supposedly he spoke to Kelly and she said this, but I've never actually seen her or Jim ever address this themselves.
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Thanks for clarifying. I'll stop referring to the search as if it's a matter of fact.

I agree with ?unknown?, I think someone offered him a ride to the school. It would appear that Jason didn't get far before he "disappeared", and he'd be less inclined to take the offer if he was halfway there already. Whether this person and Jason had any prior "relationship" it's impossible to say but they would've certainly been on familiar terms.
 
ekardh said:
I agree with ?unknown?, I think someone offered him a ride to the school. It would appear that Jason didn't get far before he "disappeared", and he'd be less inclined to take the offer if he was halfway there already. Whether this person and Jason had any prior "relationship" it's impossible to say but they would've certainly been on familiar terms.
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Absolutely. I still think it was an immediate neighbor. Even if they didn't lure him into their house, maybe they saw him taking in the trash, waited for him to walk a little bit and then offered him a lift. I assumed it was maybe a creepy older guy who lived alone, but if Jason was lured into a car and taken elsewhere, then it could have been average Mr. Smith with a wife and kids at home.
 
CountSnap said:
Yeah. That could very well be it. I've never been in the "drug scene" so I don't know how well a friend of his may have known he was into something. Is that something people normally share and tell friends about? Or in that case anyway would the parents have found something left over in his room? In his car when they got it back?

I guess the same question goes for whatever else he may have been doing out on those walks. Maybe he didn't tell anyone at all, though.
I'm still a bit puzzled as well at the comment from the person who was going to pick him up.
This exchange:
"OK. Just meet me at Benson," Jason said.
"OK. You better be there," driver said.

Did the driver have a feeling he might not show?
Did he skip out on work days before?
Possibly a very interesting comment.
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I keep thinking there was a reason he wanted to meet her at Benson rather than her picking him up at his home.
 
I wish we knew more about his computer. All that's ever been said was that his phone and computer were checked, but to what extent? Internet was still fairly new at this time, but online chatrooms were definitely popular in 2001, seeing as there was no other social media at the time. Curious to know if he ever spoke to anyone there. Maybe in an Omaha specific chatroom
 
Assuming that it was foul play, I agree that it was likely someone Jason knew or at least visually recognized from the neighborhood. And yes, it’s a shame that the police waited so long to start investigating. I recall Kelly saying in an interview a few years ago that in retrospect, the family would have pursued certain options independent of the police in the immediate aftermath of disappearance if they had known about them.

I agree that none of the other proposed scenarios make sense:

1) Gang violence: doesn’t fit as others have explained above.

2) Car-Pedestrian Accident: Without being overly graphic, fatal car-pedestrian accidents are usually gruesome scenes that cause a lot of damage to both the car and the body. There would be physical evidence. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a documented case of someone taking a body after they hit it.

3) Sewer or Construction Zone Fall: Theoretically possible but highly unlikely given the lack of sites along the route. I used to rate this possibility higher, but doing a Google streetview of the neighborhood and likely route convinced me this was unlikely.

4) Suicide: Doesn’t fit the timeframe. People don’t decide to kill themselves at 11 o’clock in the morning while on their way to an unplanned work shift.

5) Voluntary disappearance: Doesn’t fit with what we know about his life. If he had wanted to run away for some reason, it would have more sense to wait until he had his car back.

I can only imagine how unsettling the past 19 years have been for the family. I hope they at least one day find a body.
 
Good post, @retrometro! Agree with everything you've said.

retrometro said:
2) Car-Pedestrian Accident: Without being overly graphic, fatal car-pedestrian accidents are usually gruesome scenes that cause a lot of damage to both the car and the body. There would be physical evidence. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a documented case of someone taking a body after they hit it.
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I believe there was one case where a man knocked over a kid and bundled her into his car, but yeah, that was a small child not a fully-grown man.
 
Here’s a far fetched theory: it’s trash day, Jason is walking to the school to meet his ride when he hears something inside a random trash can on the side of road, maybe a kitten meowing or a scratching sound. He opens the lid, looks in, falls in, hits his head in the process, lid shuts, he passes out from the heat inside the can or from hitting his head, trash can is dumped in trash truck, trash is compacted and crushed within the truck and then dumped at the landfill.

I know, very unlikely, but could it be possible?
 
BethAnn777 said:
Here’s a far fetched theory: it’s trash day, Jason is walking to the school to meet his ride when he hears something inside a random trash can on the side of road, maybe a kitten meowing or a scratching sound. He opens the lid, looks in, falls in, hits his head in the process, lid shuts, he passes out from the heat inside the can or from hitting his head, trash can is dumped in trash truck, trash is compacted and crushed within the truck and then dumped at the landfill.

I know, very unlikely, but could it be possible?
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The trash had already been collected at this point. Jason was bringing the empty trash cans in his house before he left, and I assume any house nearby would also already have been cleared. I feel like trash day is a red herring. I dont think that really had anything to do with his disappearance, it just happened to be the last chore he did before vanishing
 
BethAnn777 said:
Here’s a far fetched theory: it’s trash day, Jason is walking to the school to meet his ride when he hears something inside a random trash can on the side of road, maybe a kitten meowing or a scratching sound. He opens the lid, looks in, falls in, hits his head in the process, lid shuts, he passes out from the heat inside the can or from hitting his head, trash can is dumped in trash truck, trash is compacted and crushed within the truck and then dumped at the landfill.
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I mean, it's not to 100% impossible, but it seems very improbable to me. Jason was 6'1 according according to media reports, which is at least a foot taller than most single-family garage cans I've ever seen. If someone that height needed something from a garbage can, their would reach for it with their arms or perhaps tip it over over on its side. I can't imagine a scenario where he would have gone in head-first, especially while on his way to work at an eatery.

I used to think the bizarre accident angle (like falling into a sewer or getting trapped somewhere) was a likely explanation. I still don't rule it out entirely. But there's nothing in the neighborhood that would support that kind of conclusion.
 
I read through all these threads yesterday. Seems like thread number one was mostly just his mom Kelly talking about her search for Jason and all her involvement in Project Jason. Threads two and three had more discussion of theories of what could have happened. I actually lived in Omaha as a small child from 1991-1995 and went back to visit once in 2004. But I lived in West Omaha so this neighborhood where he disappeared from is not a part I remember going to or where my family would have gone much. This case is very confusing because there’s not a whole lot of information. I just don’t know where Jason would have gone to. Supposedly he was walking to the school but I wonder if he went somewhere else first that was a different direction? I’m thinking foul play is involved here yet it’s so hard to come up with who and where it would have happened but it couldn’t have been far from his home. Also this Samuel Sherman guy seems real bizarre since there’s almost nothing on him. I like others question his existence. Even if he was real, maybe he flunked his interview and decided it wasn’t for him and just up and left and didn’t inform the people he was staying with. Maybe they didn’t know him very well. He may never know he was missing in the first place. I also never saw the Project Jason site but I wish I could have. It’s a shame it’s gone. I wish his mom Kelly was still active on here. She may have slowed down somewhat because I don’t see her doing anymore podcast or interviews after 2016 although she did recently post on Facebook marking the 19th anniversary of his disappearance. This is one that will be hard to solve.
 
thebigcookie said:
Also this Samuel Sherman guy seems real bizarre since there’s almost nothing on him. I like others question his existence. Even if he was real, maybe he flunked his interview and decided it wasn’t for him and just up and left and didn’t inform the people he was staying with. Maybe they didn’t know him very well. He may never know he was missing in the first place. I also never saw the Project Jason site but I wish I could have. .
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I would bet money that's what happened with Sherman. It was getting towards the end of the month, probably didn't have money for rent so he up and bailed. Heck, he could have been lying about that job interview just to assure the homeowners that money was coming, but then just decided to skip town instead.
You can view some pages of the Project Jason site if you use the WayBack Machine website. A lot of it is tailored towards other missing persons cases and not as much about Jason himself.

Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
 
I can't believe I hadn't considered @neesaki's point before. That Jason had an ulterior motive for meeting at the high school instead of getting picked up from home. Of course, the official explanation (Jason was lousy at directions) may still be true, but this adds another dimension to things.
 
ekardh said:
I can't believe I hadn't considered @neesaki's point before. That Jason had an ulterior motive for meeting at the high school instead of getting picked up from home. Of course, the official explanation (Jason was lousy at directions) may still be true, but this adds another dimension to things.
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Definitely worth looking at, considering how much of a coincidence it is: Jason happens to arrange a different meeting spot, and then just happens to not show up. The only thing with this angle is that we can only believe it was Jason's idea to meet up there because that's what the Fazoli's workers have said. There isn't really any proof that it was Jason's idea. Not that I necessarily suspect anyone at the restaurant, but we sort of have to take their word for it here. But supposing that it was Jason's idea and he did have an ulterior motive or a pit stop first- it could tie in with his dad's statement that he loved to walk and would walk for hours around. Maybe he was hanging out with someone during that time? Could also maybe have something to do with the fact that he had a change of shirts with him that day.
 
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