NE NE - Jason Jolkowski -19 - Omaha - 13 Jun 2001 - #4

[ChatteringBirds]

I 'bit the bullet' and wrote to the contact listed on the Namus page to do with the skull found in Salt Creek near Ashland in 2017, which is about a half hour's drive from Omaha, just to ask if an 'elimination' of JJ is possible. I read of two other eliminations of missing persons in an article. I do think it is a possibility. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Good work.

 

[Andreee]

Good work.

Having said that, I don't know if I have written to the correct (latest) LE in charge of this case. Last time I wrote, I was told the cold case detective looking into it had moved on. However, on another note, I looked via google maps again at the route between Jason's house and the high school. I had been wondering again about construction, but I found that it was in 2018 when major sewer changes and digs were made in the park that Jason would've passed by. I had forgotten exactly when that was, and I'm now confident that there wasn't any major construction in that area in 2001.

 

[ekardh]

Yeah, I think getting into a car or entering someone's home must have happened, and pretty quickly too (ie. for him to have vanished in such a small span of time, with no sightings, camera captures). I wonder if he's still in that neighborhood. I know LE used helicopters and infrared light/technology, but he could have been missed. Did they ever use cadaver dogs?

I concur. I believe Jason only walked a short distance before he disappeared, either entering into someone's home or vehicle.

As for people saying that timing was too tight for Jason to make a stop, how long does it take to knock someone's door and say "Hey, sorry I'm in a rush. I've been called into work this morning but we'll catch up later okay?" Maybe in response to that, the person invited Jason inside and offered to drive him to the school? Suddenly, timing isn't that much of a factor.

 

[RaspberryMama]

Were dogs ever brought in to trace his path? Seems like that would have been a logical place to start.

 

[studebkr]

Having said that, I don't know if I have written to the correct (latest) LE in charge of this case. Last time I wrote, I was told the cold case detective looking into it had moved on.

Was this:

Det. Dave Schneider
@OPDOfcSchneider

I tried to reach out recently, and can't even find the twitter handle. I wonder who replaced him if anyone. In 2018 he left a Twitter post that said, "Just starting to review the missing person investigation regarding Jason Jolkowski, who hasn’t been seen since June 13th, 2001. If anyone has any information contact @OPDCrimeStop at 402-444-STOP and provide it anonymously, or contact me at 402-444-5656." and I never heard anything more about it.

 

[MatthewTyler]

Was this:

Det. Dave Schneider
@OPDOfcSchneider

I tried to reach out recently, and can't even find the twitter handle. I wonder who replaced him if anyone. In 2018 he left a Twitter post that said, "Just starting to review the missing person investigation regarding Jason Jolkowski, who hasn’t been seen since June 13th, 2001. If anyone has any information contact @OPDCrimeStop at 402-444-STOP and provide it anonymously, or contact me at 402-444-5656." and I never heard anything more about it.

He was replaced by Brett Schrage (sp?) who was then replaced with Ryan Killawee (who I corresponded with a couple of times) and now Killawee was replaced with someone else according to Jason's dad's Facebook. Not sure who. Ryan Killawee was the one who reached out to Sam Sherman and confirmed his identity.

 

[MatthewTyler]

Were dogs ever brought in to trace his path? Seems like that would have been a logical place to start.

They never used dogs. Jason's mom said at the time she didn't know much about that process and by the time it was considered they didn't think there would be much use.

 

[studebkr]

He was replaced by Brett Schrage (sp?) who was then replaced with Ryan Killawee (who I corresponded with a couple of times) and now Killawee was replaced with someone else according to Jason's dad's Facebook. Not sure who. Ryan Killawee was the one who reached out to Sam Sherman and confirmed his identity.

What a revolving door. And here in lies the problem. OPD has had some serious issues. We had a mayor who allowed a union initiative to pass that made it really attractive for police to retire early. We ended up with a rookie force that is still not allowed to perform a high speed chase to this day.

We at least have a good police chief. He is an alumni of my high school (but years younger), I see him at the games when I do go. He navigated through all of our BLM issues quite well, and is well liked. He has had to discipline and fire some of his force for rough handing of suspects, or go to bat for them when needed. Nobody forgets their bodycam around here. I don't know if he was on the force yet when Jason disappeared.

To answer the dog question. I don't think our K-9 force has that kind of dog. Even if they did, the police treated this as a runaway situation for so long, that the path was cold and it wouldn't have done any good. We'd be better off using a psychic at this point. ;-)

 

[RaspberryMama]

To answer the dog question. I don't think our K-9 force has that kind of dog. Even if they did, the police treated this as a runaway situation for so long, that the path was cold and it wouldn't have done any good. We'd be better off using a psychic at this point. ;-)

They never used dogs. Jason's mom said at the time she didn't know much about that process and by the time it was considered they didn't think there would be much use.

That's too bad. A young child would have had bloodhound owners offering up services. Jason sounds like a "good kid" (adult, I know) who was fairly responsible. Disappearing at all, and especially before work wouldn't be his style.

Let's say he was hit by a car and the driver offered to take him to the hospital, but he passed on the way. Driver gets scared and hides the body. Just typing that out I can see it's pretty farfetched. Someone with nothing to hide would react differently.

 

[Vital Forces]

Let's say he was hit by a car and the driver offered to take him to the hospital, but he passed on the way. Driver gets scared and hides the body. Just typing that out I can see it's pretty farfetched. Someone with nothing to hide would react differently.

That was my favorite theory some time ago but less so today.

It requires that he be injured badly enough to eventually kill him but not badly enough to make a scene or to prevent him from assisting his own entry into the car. He also would have had to have died before the driver could have reached the hospital.

The driver could have realized that he would be in trouble for hitting a pedestrian, but he would have had to make the leap from being responsible for an accident to committing murder.

 

[Andreee]

Was this:

Det. Dave Schneider
@OPDOfcSchneider

I tried to reach out recently, and can't even find the twitter handle. I wonder who replaced him if anyone. In 2018 he left a Twitter post that said, "Just starting to review the missing person investigation regarding Jason Jolkowski, who hasn’t been seen since June 13th, 2001. If anyone has any information contact @OPDCrimeStop at 402-444-STOP and provide it anonymously, or contact me at 402-444-5656." and I never heard anything more about it.

Yes, that was him. I was told he moved on. Just heard back (quick response!) from my enquiry to another contact re. the skull found near Ashland, asking me to send the case number, etc. So I will do that now. Silly me, I didn't even send the Namus link to them lol Eghads!

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Let's say he was hit by a car and the driver offered to take him to the hospital, but he passed on the way. Driver gets scared and hides the body. Just typing that out I can see it's pretty farfetched. Someone with nothing to hide would react differently.

Yes. I outlined a similar scenario earlier, but I was thinking it was more along the lines of someone accidentally hitting him & knocking him out/killing him, then putting his body in the car & getting rid of this due to fear(s) of repercussions, etc.

And, what you've written above is definitely possible as well - and maybe even more possible, given that in this scenario he may have been injured, but temporarily able-bodied enough to get into the car without much help. However, even if he was able to get into the car, he may still have had a head injury that ended up resulting in him passing not long after. The driver panics, and then takes steps to hide the body. Things like this have happened.

 

[ekardh]

Yes. I outlined a similar scenario earlier, but I was thinking it was more along the lines of someone accidentally hitting him & knocking him out/killing him, then putting his body in the car & getting rid of this due to fear(s) of repercussions, etc.

And, what you've written above is definitely possible as well - and maybe even more possible, given that in this scenario he may have been injured, but temporarily able-bodied enough to get into the car without much help. However, even if he was able to get into the car, he may still have had a head injury that ended up resulting in him passing not long after. The driver panics, and then takes steps to hide the body. Things like this have happened.

Not a single person saw or heard a thing that morning. No sound of a car screeching, no sound of an impact, no scream, no sign of a panicking individual, no blood evidence, nothing. This was a densely populated area and we're expected to accept all this happened without a single clue left behind?

And again, why bother lugging a 170 lb guy into your car, creating a whole new crime, when you could drive away and no one (evidently) would've seen you?

Absolute non-starters. Both scenarios.

 

[Andreee]

Not a single person saw or heard a thing that morning. No sound of a car screeching, no sound of an impact, no scream, no sign of a panicking individual, no blood evidence, nothing. This was a densely populated area and we're expected to accept all this happened without a single clue left behind?

And again, why bother lugging a 170 lb guy into your car, creating a whole new crime, when you could drive away and no one (evidently) would've seen you?

Absolute non-starters. Both scenarios.

I agree. I found it useful to look at the possible ways JJ would've walked, by following the densely residential streets on google maps. And the park he would've possibly passed is open and surrounded by nearby homes. I can't see that scenario happening either. In addition, because of JJ's size, I don't see a hit and run driver putting him in their trunk and taking off with him if he was hit! No.

 

[RaspberryMama]

Not a single person saw or heard a thing that morning. No sound of a car screeching, no sound of an impact, no scream, no sign of a panicking individual, no blood evidence, nothing. This was a densely populated area and we're expected to accept all this happened without a single clue left behind?

And again, why bother lugging a 170 lb guy into your car, creating a whole new crime, when you could drive away and no one (evidently) would've seen you?

Absolute non-starters. Both scenarios.

Was the neighborhood really questioned that closely? Would we know if someone heard tires screech in the background? I can see a couple of places where the above scenario could've taken place (with J able to enter the vehicle on his own), where the distance from homes is enough that would make it difficult to see the road even if someone did hear screeching tires. It may not be likely but it's far from completely impossible imo.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Was the neighborhood really questioned that closely? Would we know if someone heard tires screech in the background? I can see a couple of places where the above scenario could've taken place (with J able to enter the vehicle on his own), where the distance from homes is enough that would make it difficult to see the road even if someone did hear screeching tires. It may not be likely but it's far from completely impossible imo.

Agree completely. I grew up in a residential area similar to JJ's. If something like this happened in the neighborhood where I lived & if people were home, it's possible someone would have glanced out of their window to see what happened. That is - if they heard anything.

However, note that if it happened this way the whole thing would probably have occurred very quickly - I can see everything happening in maybe 2-3 minutes, from beginning to end. And, even if someone did hear something, they may have been in the middle of doing something and/or in their back-yard(s), etc. So, by the time they came to the front of the house to look at the street - the car/JJ may have been gone.

Also, note that JJ's disappearance was in 2001. Yes, there were undoubtedly people at home during the day ATT (retired people, kids if school had let out for the summer, spouses who didn't work, etc.). However, this happened long before remote work became as popular/wide-spread as it is now. So, I suspect many (and maybe even most) of the people that lived in these houses were at work during the day.

Lastly, how do we know that someone out there didn't see/hear something & just didn't report this?! We have no way of knowing this.

 

[Andreee]

Agree completely. I grew up in a residential area similar to JJ's. If something like this happened in the neighborhood where I lived & if people were home, it's possible someone would have glanced out of their window to see what happened. That is - if they heard anything.

However, note that if it happened this way the whole thing would probably have occurred very quickly - I can see everything happening in maybe 2-3 minutes, from beginning to end. And, even if someone did hear something, they may have been in the middle of doing something and/or in their back-yard(s), etc. So, by the time they came to the front of the house to look at the street - the car/JJ may have been gone.

Also, note that JJ's disappearance was in 2001. Yes, there were undoubtedly people at home during the day ATT (retired people, kids if school had let out for the summer, spouses who didn't work, etc.). However, this happened long before remote work became as popular/wide-spread as it is now. So, I suspect many (and maybe even most) of the people that lived in these houses were at work during the day.

Lastly, how do we know that someone out there didn't see/hear something & just didn't report this?! We have no way of knowing this.

There have been several investigators over the years looking into this case. I am sure they would have made note of any reports of squealing tires, etc. at the time. After the ten days delay, an investigation was done of neighbours and the neighbourhood for clues, but of course alot of time had passed. From what I've read over the years, LE has deemed this a homicide for whatever reason on their local website in Omaha in the past, and his family suspects foul play. Maybe poster Matthew Tyler can confirm this, as he has followed this case closely all along.

 

[Alleykins]

There have been several investigators over the years looking into this case. I am sure they would have made note of any reports of squealing tires, etc. at the time. After the ten days delay, an investigation was done of neighbours and the neighbourhood for clues, but of course alot of time had passed. From what I've read over the years, LE has deemed this a homicide for whatever reason on their local website inMa the past, and his family suspects foul play. Maybe poster Matthew Tyler can confirm this, as he has followed this case closely all along.

You're right, there have been several investigators over the years. However, we know for a fact they didn't knock on every door in the neighborhood. So between not doing a thorough job interviewing people in the area, and the delay in doing so, there's a good chance investigators missed vital clues in the beginning of the investigation which may have been helpful, like who may have been home at the time, and what they saw and heard.

 

[Alleykins]

Not a single person saw or heard a thing that morning. No sound of a car screeching, no sound of an impact, no scream, no sign of a panicking individual, no blood evidence, nothing. This was a densely populated area and we're expected to accept all this happened without a single clue left behind?

And again, why bother lugging a 170 lb guy into your car, creating a whole new crime, when you could drive away and no one (evidently) would've seen you?

Absolute non-starters. Both scenarios.

We don't know if not a single person saw or heard a thing that morning. There's a host of ways someone's eye witness account could have been overlooked or not given. They may have witnessed something & thought nothing of it. The police may not have not knocked on their door. But you're right about the blood evidence, though. That would be hard to conceal, but the rest is subject to someone seeing it and coming forward. No one's obligated to do that.

And though a densely populated area, take a look at the section of Pinkney Street near Jason's house. If it were as overgrown and unkempt then as it it today, and Jason decided to take that part of it to get to the high school and cut across, there would have been plenty of opportunity to accost someone there without any witnesses.

 

[ekardh]

We don't know if not a single person saw or heard a thing that morning. There's a host of ways someone's eye witness account could have been overlooked or not given. They may have witnessed something & thought nothing of it. The police may not have not knocked on their door. But you're right about the blood evidence, though. That would be hard to conceal, but the rest is subject to someone seeing it and coming forward. No one's obligated to do that.

And though a densely populated area, take a look at the section of Pinkney Street near Jason's house. If it were as overgrown and unkempt then as it it today, and Jason decided to take that part of it to get to the high school and cut across, there would have been plenty of opportunity to accost someone there without any witnesses.

But now you're basing an extraordinary theory on a lack of evidence, which is fallacious reasoning.

Has anyone tried to move a body before? It's not easy. That's why the only true story I've read along these lines is a man who knocked down a young girl. I've never read about someone accidentally running down a grown man and bundling his body into the car to dispose of him, let alone offering to take him to the hospital then murdering him. They would be much likelier to drive away and leave the body than risk anything else. Again, hit and RUN.