I just found this thread today and read through it. After reading through the first few pages and getting a bit mixed up on the facts, I decided to make a list of what was known with associated links. So, I just thought I'd share.
James Yoblonski, 13-year-old male
120 pounds, 5’11” tall with blue-green eyes and brown hair
He has a half-inch scar on the back of his neck.
June 12, 2023
James left his home in Reedsburg, WI in the early morning hours driving his father's van. He was last seen wearing red shoes, blue jeans, a shirt and baseball hat.
A
.380 semiautomatic pistol belonging to James’s father was discovered to be missing – dad
believes James drove to his father’s workplace and took the gun from that location for protection.
James may have also taken
two survival guidebooks with him (one may be part of a series of books entitled ‘Living Off the Grid’).
According to investigators, James had been talking about
surviving in the wilderness and going “off the grid” before he disappeared.
Video footage shows James walking across the street from his house and
getting into his dad’s van with a backpack and duffle bag at
12:52 am; he's later seen on camera
arriving at his father’s business just after
3:00 am and then
leaving 54 minutes later.
The van was
located along the “westbound lanes” of Highway 12 near Baraboo Bluffs, a couple miles from the westernmost portion of Devil’s Lake State Park and the northern part of the Sauk Prairie State Recreational Area,
north of Groth Road in Sumpter, WI at about
4:45 am.
Tracking of his dad's cell phone showed that James left his house,
drove through Dells, the village Lake Delton, just about in Adams County, back in the south county, through Reedsburg and then eventually to Highway 12. During that time, James stopped at his father’s business in Wisconsin Dells twice.
Ground and air searches were conducted with
10 K9s, two airplanes, and a Black Hawk helicopter in the days following James’s disappearance.
The day James was reported missing detectives discovered a
makeshift campsite inside the park, roughly 100 yards to the west of US 12, along with
various items belonging to James (including
several changes of clothes--three pairs of pants and three shirts, his backpack, his dad's phone, and a pillow).
Later searches conducted in an area near Baraboo and Devil’s Lake State Park,
on both sides of Highway 12, revealed additional
signs of life (including a freshly cut walking stick, plastic sandwich bags, and a possible boot print
200 yards southwest of the abandoned campsite discovered earlier in the week).
Authorities said they
believe James traveled southwest but they can’t be sure.
Detectives subsequently
discovered a second campsite with a jug of water, a pair of socks, and a knife sheath.
Sheriff Meister said officials had essentially searched the entire area and outlined the
5,000 acres that were covered.
Detectives began to fear their presence might be pushing James farther away and
scaled back their searches, although they left behind cameras in areas they suspected James had been and would be alerted if motion was detected.
Crime Stoppers reminded the public that anyone who
takes in a runaway should immediately notify law enforcement.
The
family conducted their own searches in the area during the last two weekends in June and volunteers located a campsite that appeared to have been recently abandoned (materials were dry in spite of the heavy rain overnight).
James
posted a video on Snapchat using his dad’s phone. In the video, James apparently said something along the lines of
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll be back for school. I don’t want to hurt anybody, but I might.” (This is the dad paraphrasing.) The video appeared to have been taken from inside the van while he was driving.
Two devices were analyzed by the FBI – one owned by the Yoblonski family and one issued to James by the school district.
The devices showed that online
searches in early 2023 were conducted about
how to travel out of state, as well as
being a minor on an airplane and crossing state lines.
Authorities also found
several searches for various locations in Wisconsin, but LE checked out these locations and found no evidence that James was ever there.
The
FBI joined the search two weeks after James disappeared by providing technical assistance and their involvement is currently being provided “as needed”.
James’s dad
passed a polygraph administered by the FBI at the sheriff’s office. A detective confirmed that he passed.
James's dad said they always go camping on Father’s Day weekend and had their annual camping trip planned for the following weekend, as well as similar trips on weekends throughout July.
His dad is currently offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to him finding his son.
The Snapchat video James posted on the day he went missing was later shared with the media, and James can be heard saying,
"For everyone who cares about me, it's not their fault. It's no one's fault. It's my fault. I feel like I want to explain it. I don’t know how. I'm scared, and I’m sad, and I have no emotions anymore. I'm like, I’m not processing anything. My brain is – something happened to it."