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

[Alleykins]

This is very strange.. Did you notice under the banner "Help Child to Make Perfectionist"? Weird

It's very recent activity.

 

[ekardh]

It's very recent activity.

It’s pretty strange. The site had been defunct for ages. Why not just create a new one for a new purpose? What with the broken English, I’m wondering if there’s spambot shenanigans involved?

 

[Alleykins]

It’s pretty strange. The site had been defunct for ages. Why not just create a new one for a new purpose? What with the broken English, I’m wondering if there’s spambot shenanigans involved?

My concern is, if it's not Kelly, then someone is using her identity to run this site.

 

[BethAnn777]

The words look to be written by someone whose native language isn’t English. Didn’t we discover months ago that site was no longer active? Looks like someone bought the domain and are using it for a different purpose.

 

[Andreee]

I honestly think the religious background was significant here, and Jason had stuff going in his personal life that he couldn't share with his family.

The words look to be written by someone whose native language isn’t English. Didn’t we discover months ago that site was no longer active? Looks like someone bought the domain and are using it for a different purpose.

Yes, when I checked the site awhile back, it was made defunct and others had commented the same thing. So looks like someone bought the domain.

 

[ekardh]

Yeah, it looks like a spambot has generated a new website and used some of the legacy information attached to the old one.

Back to the case... I honestly hope there will be a breakthrough one of these days but I don't know where it will come from. Maybe someone will have a deathbed confession, particularly if they were part of Jason's church, or there may be a family member unwilling to speak up until that person has passed.

 

[girlinblue]

I came to this thread to see if there was any mention of why Jason's mother closed it down... I see I'm not the only one curious.

The Project Jason website has actually been gone for a couple years now. I've checked it occasionally to see if it got renewed or was put back online, but it just sort of disappeared. His mother stopped updating social media as well since 2016/2017. At least anywhere I've seen.

I hope everything is well.

 

[Valiant]

I could only guess. But my thought is Jason (and Project Jason) probably became his mother's whole life. At some point, she may have needed to separate herself to continue living.

 

[Alleykins]

I could only guess. But my thought is Jason (and Project Jason) probably became his mother's whole life. At some point, she may have needed to separate herself to continue living.

I can understand needing a break from running the organization, but I believe she could have passed the reins over to a board of trustees or entrusted someone else to run the site and foundation. I'm at a loss as to why it completely shut down, and, as far as I can tell, done so without any announcement or press whatsoever, as I couldn't find a news story or anything telling folks it was being shut down. Based on comments I've read about it here and other places, no one else knew what was going on, either.

 

[studebkr]

I have owned several domains over the years, and when I let them lapse, there are companies that come in and buy them up banking on the chance that you might want it back, and be willing to pay them $5K or more for it. I have had customers pay the "ransom". It is perfectly legal, just scummy.

Jason's parents have divorced. His father remains in Omaha, in the same house. His mother has moved to a little town West of Walla Walla, WA. Her LinkedIn page states that she is retired from the non-profit.

ProjectJason.org is up for renewal at the end of the month, should anyone want to buy it, and the current owner decides not to renew.

 

[CountSnap]

That ain't right. Not right at'all.

 

[deadinthewater]

Back to the case... I honestly hope there will be a breakthrough one of these days but I don't know where it will come from. Maybe someone will have a deathbed confession, particularly if they were part of Jason's church, or there may be a family member unwilling to speak up until that person has passed.

Er, this jumped out to me for some reason.. do we know if Jason's brother still lives in the area of their old family home? With their parents' divorce and Kelly moving far away (even from her son, grandkids - if JJ's brother still lives there), and the sudden shutdown of Project Jason, I just wonder is she found something out.

 

[ekardh]

Er, this jumped out to me for some reason.. do we know if Jason's brother still lives in the area of their old family home? With their parents' divorce and Kelly moving far away (even from her son, grandkids - if JJ's brother still lives there), and the sudden shutdown of Project Jason, I just wonder is she found something out.

Just to clarify, I was referring to a family member of the suspect, not one of Jason's relatives.

Sometimes cold cases are revived when the relative of the perpetrator finds the confidence to come forward.

 

[deadinthewater]

Just to clarify, I was referring to a family member of the suspect, not one of Jason's relatives.

Sometimes cold cases are revived when the relative of the perpetrator finds the confidence to come forward.

Oh, okay, my apologies. That makes sense as well.

 

[ekardh]

There are only four possibilities that could've happened to Jason:

Suicide/Runaway - These are both unrealistic scenarios, given the circumstances. If Jason was planning to make a clean start or end his life, I doubt he would have taken the shift at Fazoli's, where his absence would soon be noted, or acted while his car was still being repaired. The lack of eyewitness accounts also support this. It's next to impossible for a teenager to go off the grid and make a new life for themselves, esp. one from a fairly sheltered background such as Jason. He had no car, no money, no passport.

Accident - This is a possibility but where would Jason perish in that short walk through the neighbourhood? Repair/construction works are usually cordoned off, and it's hard to believe his body would not have been discovered by workers.

Foul Play - For me, the only viable theory. I don't see this as a random abduction. There was something more going on here. The lack of insight from Jason's family & friends could hint that Jason was hiding something. There are too many small details that have been overlooked. It's okay saying "Maybe Jason was lousy at directions" "Maybe Jason did enjoy long walks", but that doesn't get us anywhere. In a case such as this, we need to suspect everything. Jason was an introverted guy with a small social circle, and a religious upbringing. Although he was above the age of grooming material, I suspect something not dissimilar to that was behind his disappearance.

 

[CountSnap]

The more I think about it, if he said originally that he would walk to Fazoli's then, I'm starting to wonder if he did have a place to stop along the way?
Might have left even less time for him to meet (possibly) but when I look at the route, much of my theory of him walking to Fazoli's but taking a walk off route throws him a bit out of the way? I know it might not be too much...
But, there is that.
Just tossing that out there. Wondering our thoughts on the difference (the math of a walk) between the original "walk to Fazoli's" and the new walk to Benson.
What overlaps? What might be a quick walk out of the way to Fazoli's vs "on the way" to Benson high school?
However, there is a bus stop along the route, either way, I believe.

 

[studebkr]

To walk from "N 48th & Pinkney St, Omaha, NE 68104" to "8002 Cass St, Omaha, NE 68114" would take 1 Hour 47 minutes according to Google Maps. 4.3 miles.

I walked all over at that age, but got a ride if I could.

I agree that Jason was not in control of his disappearance. I didn't know him well, but I don't think most kids in 2001 thought about burner cell phones, and debit cards being traced, I can't seem him planning something so elaborate.

 

[Alleykins]

To walk from "N 48th & Pinkney St, Omaha, NE 68104" to "8002 Cass St, Omaha, NE 68114" would take 1 Hour 47 minutes according to Google Maps. 4.3 miles.

I walked all over at that age, but got a ride if I could.

I agree that Jason was not in control of his disappearance. I didn't know him well, but I don't think most kids in 2001 thought about burner cell phones, and debit cards being traced, I can't seem him planning something so elaborate.

What about public transportation? I'm not from the area, so I have no clue what's available in Omaha. In my neck of the woods, we have (and had back then as well) limited public transit. Could he have taken a bus to Fazoli's if he wanted to? According to what we've read, he did have a small amount of cash on him, surely enough to catch a bus, if available, or a cab. It would have been quicker than walking. Now that I think of it, I wonder why he would agree to walk to work initially, if other options were available.

 

[MysteryMaven]

To walk from "N 48th & Pinkney St, Omaha, NE 68104" to "8002 Cass St, Omaha, NE 68114" would take 1 Hour 47 minutes according to Google Maps. 4.3 miles.

I walked all over at that age, but got a ride if I could.

I agree that Jason was not in control of his disappearance. I didn't know him well, but I don't think most kids in 2001 thought about burner cell phones, and debit cards being traced, I can't seem him planning something so elaborate.

As someone local at the time what are your thoughts on Fontanelle Park? Would that have been an area Jason would have maybe cut through? I have read it was sketchy there and that there had been construction on and off there for a long time.

 

[studebkr]

There would have been several options for taking the bus. Most all of them would have required at least one transfer. Fazolli's is pretty close to the now demolished Crossroads Mall, which was a hub for the city bus traffic.

Fontanelle Park was only a few blocks from his house, but the other direction. There is a small park called Lake James Park on the way to Benson. Omaha has been separating its septic and storm sewers for over 20 years, and it was my recollection that this was going on in the area at this time, but someone here checked that out, and it wasn't that year.

Though I don't see that anyone could "fall down a hole" very easily, one of those worksites, with access to open sewers would have made a good place to stash someone. We had a missing persons case years earlier, where a biker club hid the body of a young woman that way. There were witnesses that she had been around these guys, and the proof was found 10-15 years later, so not the same thing. It was an effective hiding place, but they had the cover of darkness.