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

[MatthewTyler]

Another house on Jason's block has just sold recently. I won't give the exact one, but very close to his. The house has been owned by the same family since 2001. Whenever a house in the area sells there's always a small window of hope that something can be uncovered during possible renovations

 

[Gordon_]

Another house on Jason's block has just sold recently. I won't give the exact one, but very close to his. The house has been owned by the same family since 2001. Whenever a house in the area sells there's always a small window of hope that something can be uncovered during possible renovations

Makes me wonder if there has been similar cases like this where eventually some new owners found something. I am sure there must have been.

 

[MissMisty]

I was the Jolkowski’s neighbor and there was definitely gang activity in the area at that time and even more so today.

I’m not going to rule that out completely, but it is unlikely.

Most gang crime in North Omaha is black on black in the form of a drive by. They are messy and not clean hits at all. The only whites I know of that have been effected were in drug deals gone bad and there was still no effort to hide evidence.

Anything is possible. I’ve wondered myself, but it just doesn’t seem like it happened that way. Though nobody has a theory any better.

There was private and “crime stoppers” reward money (maybe still) for information leading to finding Jason. Those rewards often work if there was a witness willing to “break the code”.

I don’t think it was ruled out so much as they didn’t have anything to lead them down that road.

Thank you for your input.

Jason's case is one of my top 5 that I want to see solved based on him seemingly being a nice, sweet kid from a nice family and there being no clues or evidence. Talk about seemingly vanishing into thin air. My thought has always been that he was the victim of robbery, abducted and killed with his body being dumped somewhere. I don't buy that he "ran off to start a new life" or had some kind of secret life no one knew about and is living somewhere else with no word from him for 24 years. Possible? I guess but, I don't buy it.

I have always been intrigued by the theory that he was somehow lured into a neighbor's house...asking for help real quick, to see something or possibly he was being groomed by someone. For this theory to be true he was either killed and what...buried in the backyard maybe? If he was lured into someone's house, is it possible that he is still alive having been held captive for 24 years? Sure, it's possible. I mean, the police would need to have probable cause to search someone's house, right? If they didn't have probable cause he could still be captive? Didn't someone move out of the neighborhood hastily shortly after his disappearance?

I am haunted by SO many cases and this is absolutely one of them.

 

[Andreee]

Thank you for your input.

Jason's case is one of my top 5 that I want to see solved based on him seemingly being a nice, sweet kid from a nice family and there being no clues or evidence. Talk about seemingly vanishing into thin air. My thought has always been that he was the victim of robbery, abducted and killed with his body being dumped somewhere. I don't buy that he "ran off to start a new life" or had some kind of secret life no one knew about and is living somewhere else with no word from him for 24 years. Possible? I guess but, I don't buy it.

I have always been intrigued by the theory that he was somehow lured into a neighbor's house...asking for help real quick, to see something or possibly he was being groomed by someone. For this theory to be true he was either killed and what...buried in the backyard maybe? If he was lured into someone's house, is it possible that he is still alive having been held captive for 24 years? Sure, it's possible. I mean, the police would need to have probable cause to search someone's house, right? If they didn't have probable cause he could still be captive? Didn't someone move out of the neighborhood hastily shortly after his disappearance?

I am haunted by SO many cases and this is absolutely one of them.

Hi, and yes I too believe JJ was a victim of foul play, which seems to be the general consensus everywhere I read about him. Yes, someone moved out of the neighbourhood soon after JJ's disappearance, but I seem to recall it had nothing to do with JJ's disappearance. Our resident 'expert' Matthew on this case will no doubt know the details of that Anyone who sells and moves out of their home in JJ's area is brought to our attention here by Matthew and in fact just recently he made note of that. I think the main hope is that JJ will eventually be found locally by a new homeowner doing renovations, etc. or by a hunter outside of Omaha and area. We continue to hope.

 

[MissMisty]

Ooops, sorry for my oversight! My account here has been dormant for many years so I was just kind of nosing around...impossible to catch up on that many years of not being here. I will keep an eye out for Matthew's posts and I truly appreciate your response!

 

[Marcux]

I'm sure that by this point, almost everything has been discussed but is there any verified information about what the weather was like that day? As a meteorologist, I'm always curious about how weather impacts cases like this. Quick research into the archives of weather observations on April 11, 2001 shows that it was a relatively stormy day in Kansas/Nebraska/Missouri. A local storm report archived from that morning shows 1.75 inch hail reported in Stanberry, MO, not all that far east, at around 11:15 AM.

I wonder if he could have been caught in a storm on the walk and ducked in somewhere to get out of the rain (or maybe even hail?).

No rain that day in North Omaha. Big gust of wind around that time at 15-25mph, 80’s. Tornados later in the evening close but not in Omaha.

 

[Marcux]

Really makes me wonder if he did actually just end up falling down a manhole. It used to be a ridiculous theory that was instantly dismissed, but it may just be inching ever so slightly up the list of possibilities. I'd beleive that over the "hit by car and body dumped" theory that's for sure.

This is something that needs attention. There is a park between his home and Benson HS. There is also a large drainage trap in that park.

 

[Marcux]

Yep, it was me that posted that video. Further back a map. That would be my route. My son said it varied for him depending on the day, but usually straight up Bedford to Monroe and across the parking lot to Benson. My son started at Benson that next year, and probably had a car a lot of that time though.

On the 20th anniversary, I thought about trying to organize a walk, but then the family had the official remembrance at Roberts Park. I'm not sure how many of us are from Omaha, too, so a walk might not have been plausible.

I had not realized until the last set of threads that Jason went to Westside HS for his first years, and that his brother graduated from there. (For those outside of Omaha, the band 311 emerged from students at Westside High School)

I don't understand the transfer. If JJ had learning disabilities, Westside was way more equipped. My son had issues with school, and Benson was of little help to him. His issues were more social, and the school did little for students unless they were a discipline problem. The dropout rate there is staggering.

Someone mentioned they though JJ transferred to Benson because he was being bullied at Westside. If this is true, I wonder if that was something they looked at.

Westside is known for gaslighting and spoiled rich kids that torment those not in their social circle. Obviously the few members from Westside cannot be painted as such…

 

[Andreee]

This is something that needs attention. There is a park between his home and Benson HS. There is also a large drainage trap in that park

This is something that needs attention. There is a park between his home and Benson HS. There is also a large drainage trap in that park.

Yes, every once in awhile I too think maybe it was a construction type fall/accident! Having looked closely at google maps that unfortunately doesn't show that year that I can see, the drains enroute look too small for someone to fall in lol. But the park did have various work such as drainage done in the past, as evidenced by one of the maps, and random fixes. JJ's former neighbour studebkr who posts here doesn't recall any major construction going on, however I imagine a query with the local city hall works dpt. or whoever, would help get a clearer picture if they keep records? Don't really know but if someone, a local or American at least lol really wanted to investigate that aspect, maybe it could be done? It sounds a bit crazy to suggest this, but at this point anything goes!

 

[Marcux]

Yeah I thought about driving by there to see just how small that really is. I have seen some drains that look small but have open slits that could accommodate someone of that build. I’m also think he saw something or someone and decided to hide and got stuck as oppose to casually falling in…

 

[MatthewTyler]

In Google maps you can see the construction going on there as @Andreee mentioned, however you can see that the cement structure with the sewer remained untouched and blocked off (as picture below). Not sure if that was there in 2001, or even what it leads to or what it's used for. I just don't know if hiding in a sewer would be most peoples' first idea if wanting to avoid someone.

 

[Andreee]

Yeah I thought about driving by there to see just how small that really is. I have seen some drains that look small but have open slits that could accommodate someone of that build. I’m also think he saw something or someone and decided to hide and got stuck as oppose to casually falling in…

If you do drive by can you take photos of any drains etc

 

[Andreee]

dbm

 

[Vital Forces]

I just searched YouTube and noticed there have been a few new videos in the past year. I've seen the one where they walk from his neighborhood to the school but was wondering if any of the other new ones are worth watching.

 

[Lebowski]

i'm newish here and just wanna say this case puzzles me to no end. it's like brian shaeffer and a few others in the way it defies explanation.

with most mysteries, you can imagine lots of possibilities and the challenge is figuring out which one is true. with a few, it's hard to even imagine possibilities. this is one of the latter.

 

[Lebowski]

ok, i lied, that's NOT all i want to say.

i've recently been thinking more about the suicide possibility with jason. it would explain how he disappeared from a suburban neighborhood in broad daylight with no one noticing anything unusual. no one knows what's going through his head as he walks down the street. the fact that he takes a turn that leads away from the high school wouldn't stand out to neighbors who didn't know his plans. and he goes somewhere (a park, e.g.) where he can find privacy, but nothing would look off while he's on the way there.

i've also read (not sure how much stock to put in this) that he'd been going on long walks recently, and that his father said he'd "been having a rough time lately". some people read a hidden life into that. but it could also be depression. not clear signs he was suicidal, but at least consistent with it. then there's the point that you never really know what's going on in someone else's head. that doesn't directly boost my argument, but it weakens the counter that he didn't seem suicidal.

ultimately my argument for suicide is not that anything points strongly to it, but that everything else seems less likely.

either that or fell down a storm drain.

 

[Vital Forces]

ok, i lied, that's NOT all i want to say.

i've recently been thinking more about the suicide possibility with jason. it would explain how he disappeared from a suburban neighborhood in broad daylight with no one noticing anything unusual. no one knows what's going through his head as he walks down the street. the fact that he takes a turn that leads away from the high school wouldn't stand out to neighbors who didn't know his plans. and he goes somewhere (a park, e.g.) where he can find privacy, but nothing would look off while he's on the way there.

i've also read (not sure how much stock to put in this) that he'd been going on long walks recently, and that his father said he'd "been having a rough time lately". some people read a hidden life into that. but it could also be depression. not clear signs he was suicidal, but at least consistent with it. then there's the point that you never really know what's going on in someone else's head. that doesn't directly boost my argument, but it weakens the counter that he didn't seem suicidal.

ultimately my argument for suicide is not that anything points strongly to it, but that everything else seems less likely.

either that or fell down a storm drain.

This scenario has never held much water for me. He was very religious, no body has ever been discovered and he had no clear means to do it.

 

[Lebowski]

all fair, but none are show-stoppers. and some kind of voluntary disappearance strikes me as the most natural way for him to vanish from a suburban street in broad daylight with no one noticing anything unusual, which is the big puzzle here. everything else feels like a stretch for one reason or another. under voluntary disappearance we have left to start a new life and left to end his life. i haven't actually looked up the statistics, but i'm guessing the second one is more common.

 

[Andreee]

ok, i lied, that's NOT all i want to say.

i've recently been thinking more about the suicide possibility with jason. it would explain how he disappeared from a suburban neighborhood in broad daylight with no one noticing anything unusual. no one knows what's going through his head as he walks down the street. the fact that he takes a turn that leads away from the high school wouldn't stand out to neighbors who didn't know his plans. and he goes somewhere (a park, e.g.) where he can find privacy, but nothing would look off while he's on the way there.

i've also read (not sure how much stock to put in this) that he'd been going on long walks recently, and that his father said he'd "been having a rough time lately". some people read a hidden life into that. but it could also be depression. not clear signs he was suicidal, but at least consistent with it. then there's the point that you never really know what's going on in someone else's head. that doesn't directly boost my argument, but it weakens the counter that he didn't seem suicidal.

ultimately my argument for suicide is not that anything points strongly to it, but that everything else seems less likely.

either that or fell down a storm drain.

As you can imagine, some of us have followed this case here for many years, and even Jason's mom used to post on this thread! I can say that the subject of possible suicide did come up, but for me and from what I can see, it is at the bottom of possibilities for many who have come to know Jason's background. If you read about Jason's life, what his family and friends said about him, his interests, etc etc. it paints a pretty good picture of the person he was. Not saying it is impossible re. suicide, but very unlikely. Jason was just finishing his job at the pizza place, and from what his family said, he was excited about starting a new job the following week. IMO it was in all likelihood foul play. I think even the police thought that was the case, as did his family.

 

[Andreee]

This scenario has never held much water for me. He was very religious, no body has ever been discovered and he had no clear means to do it.

I agree 100 percent.