Found Deceased IL - Jake Cefolia, 49, jogging, car found, SVP of United Airlines, Chicago, 6 Aug 2020

[sleuth782]

His home in Elmhurst was listed for sale 64 days ago and sale was pending on August 5, 2020. He went missing the following day. (you can find the address through whitepages, and then type it in google to get the Redfin and Zillow listings).

Very interesting. Pending sale price is below what they bought it at. Also, Zillow pics show a Range Rover in the garage...often around $100k nowadays. Financial stress seems possible, but a Range Rover might elicit targeting (vengeful employee or robbery).

 

[diggndeeperstill]

I wonder if he could have met up with someone there? Is that where he normally runs?

 

[diggndeeperstill]

There were some wicked storms through Chicago on August 10th. A total of 15 tornados. Just noting .

15 total tornadoes from Monday’s storms, NWS confirms | WGN-TV

 

[diggndeeperstill]

This is an interesting statement. Makes me feel like they suspect self harm.

United Airlines Executive Missing For Over A Week | One Mile at a Time


United Airlines issued the following statement regarding this situation:

“Our friend and colleague, Jake Cefolia, SVP of Worldwide Sales, was last seen Thursday evening, August 6th. We’re concerned about his well-being and have been in touch with Jake’s family over the last couple of days to offer them our support. At the request of the family, we won’t be releasing any additional details at this time.

We have also been in touch with law enforcement and expressed our desire to do everything we can to help them as they lead the effort to find Jake. If you have any information that could be helpful in locating Jake, please contact the Elmhurst Police Department at (630) 530-3050.”

————

Jumping off from Jake’s Facebook and Instagram I do not see one missing post from family.

 

[TappaTappaTappa]

United Airlines Executive Missing For Over A Week | One Mile at a Time

I didn't see it mentioned here so I just wanted to say his car was found at the preserve, which is near his house. He frequented the preserve for running purposes

Elmhurst is about half an hour away from Waterfall Glen, longer if there’s traffic. So it’s not really near his house. Interestingly enough, if he were to drive from Elmhurst to Waterfall Glen, I would assume he’d park in one of the entrances near Cass Ave., as they’d be closer to Rt. 83 (which is a straight shot from Elmhurst to Waterfall Glen). He could have parked on the other end of the preserve if he wanted to avoid crowds, I suppose, as the “waterfall” is closer to one of the Cass Ave. parking lots & that’s where most people congregate. IMO: I almost feel like the car was ditched in that lot.

The Lemont quarries butt up to one edge of the forest preserve, as does the Des Plaines River. They may want to turn focus onto those areas.

 

[rainynights]

Instagram: Login • Instagram (last public post dated October 10, 2017)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cefolia (last tweet dated November 18, 2019)
Venmo: Jacob Cefolia (Private)

 

[AC's Grandma]

I wonder if once he did the dirty work of eliminating/layoff of employees who he supervised he wasn't then let go by the company to save money. The company and the family could want that info to be kept quiet and it would also point to a possible reason for self harm.

 

[Seajay]

I’m thinking if he wanted to avoid crowds, since it sounds like it’s been crowded there since COVID has been around, he would go off the beaten path, he would find a place to run that didn’t have many people around. From there he could have fallen, lost his balance and ended up down a hill or something.

However it sounds like he was under pressure at work with furloughs and layoffs. That is stressful, but a whole lot of other stuff needs to be going on to self harm. Selling his house at this time is curious. And what was his home life like?

Did he just need to escape, take a breather away from every thing and every one who relies on him in some way? JMO

 

[Tbone144]

LinkedIn account. He was active there recently but not much to see to give any indication.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-cefolia-0578102

 

[human]

Our flights have been cancelled by different airlines which means I was entitled to refunds.

The other ones stalled, one from March until I just received my Refund.

United refunded in less than a week.

 

[Cubby]

Elmhurst is about half an hour away from Waterfall Glen, longer if there’s traffic. So it’s not really near his house. Interestingly enough, if he were to drive from Elmhurst to Waterfall Glen, I would assume he’d park in one of the entrances near Cass Ave., as they’d be closer to Rt. 83 (which is a straight shot from Elmhurst to Waterfall Glen). He could have parked on the other end of the preserve if he wanted to avoid crowds, I suppose, as the “waterfall” is closer to one of the Cass Ave. parking lots & that’s where most people congregate. IMO: I almost feel like the car was ditched in that lot.

The Lemont quarries butt up to one edge of the forest preserve, as does the Des Plaines River. They may want to turn focus onto those areas.

Welcome to WS, TappaTappaTappa! It's nice to see another local here.

When I first read the thread my initial thought was accident, now I am leaning towards self harm. In addition to all that has already been mentioned in this thread I've heard it's predicted business travel is not expected to ever get back to it's precocious numbers.

I hope I'm wrong and Jake is found safe. Keeping his family in my prayers.

 

[zucchinibread]

I wonder if once he did the dirty work of eliminating/layoff of employees who he supervised he wasn't then let go by the company to save money. The company and the family could want that info to be kept quiet and it would also point to a possible reason for self harm.

If he did the work of laying off employees, that could also unfortunately make him a target for foul play. Doesn’t seem likely here, but a possibility nonetheless.

 

[Wild Rose]

Understanding the life stresses on the physical body, knowing he was last known running. Running, great stress reliever. His Instagram has a post of going to the woods for peace. Perhaps he suffered a medical emergency. The human body can only take so much stress. Work stress, moving stress, just these two alone are on the short list of major life stressors. Fearing this may have happened IMO.

 

[GraceG]

Very interesting. Pending sale price is below what they bought it at. Also, Zillow pics show a Range Rover in the garage...often around $100k nowadays. Financial stress seems possible, but a Range Rover might elicit targeting (vengeful employee or robbery).

His car was found at the park. I doubt he told his employees where he runs. I'm in management at the agency I work for and those that work for me don't know where I live or spend my social time.

 

[GraceG]

If he did the work of laying off employees, that could also unfortunately make him a target for foul play. Doesn’t seem likely here, but a possibility nonetheless.

He's not in HR - he's in international sales. Having worked for an airline I know that HR normally handles all hirings and firings.

 

[Cubby]

I looked athrough the listing. The house price is closer to average for Elmhurst, unlike some extravagant areas of Elmhurst. The home is also located very near salt creek, so now I am back to accident, because I wonder if he was going to harm himself why not just do that at Salt Creek?

We don't know why the home was for sale, if the marriage was ending, perhaps he chose to walk away. I don't know why he would do that when the sale of his home was still contingent. And what kind of contingency? Home to sell, home to close, attorney approval, inspection? Lots of unknowns here.... Praying he is found safe.

 

[NoSI]

Having to lay off your staff during difficult times like these can be very difficult and traumatic for a person who cares about people. I don't know him, but based on pictures and work-related interviews i have watched, he comes across as warm and extroverted. He seems to enjoy being around people based on body language. Some in this position develop a deep sense of guilt... almost like survivors guilt. I don’t feel (yet) that there was foul play involved. I think self-harm is a definite possibility. He also lost a main coping skill, travel, due to current restrictions, which is not good.

This is just MOO. I work in psych and there are definitely red flags in addition to being part of a group that is high risk for suicide... white, middle-aged, possibly single (i could not find any indication that he is in a relationship), however, he does appear to have a child, which is often a significant protective factor (reason why people do not attempt suicide).

I so hope he just needed a time out... but yes, i fear self-harm.

 

[Cubby]

United Airlines executive missing, search underway in Lemont forest preserve

At least there is a large search. Has anyone seen Jakes case mentioned over the air on any of the local news stations?

 

[mrsselig]

Hi Cubby, I'm in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago - I haven't seen or heard of this case on any local news stations/sources. Oddly it only showed up in my Google News feed - and of course led me to search here at W.S.

 

[Cubby]

I'm in the far west burbs.

I did some digging (dpc court records) He's divorced and the divorce proceedings were several years ago. The most recent modification was in February of this year. I'm going to guess he had taken a salary cut due to the enormous decrease in air travel. Likely salary cut which led to having to sell his house, timing of disappearance a day after house goes under contract. Doesn't sound good.