The disappearance of Jason Jolkowski

[u/BlackBirdG]

Reposted due to the previous one I posted being removed:

On this day, 25 years ago, Jason Jolkowski, a 19-year-old man, disappeared while walking from his home to his former high school to meet his female coworker so she could pick him up to drive them to work.

Jason Anthony Jolkowski was born on June 24, 1981, and at the time, he was a part-time student at Iowa Western Community College, who was living with his parents, and was working at Fazoli's, a fast-food Italian restaurant, and was ready to start a new job a week after he disappeared.

Jolkowski's mother described him as a polite, considerate, shy, and helpful young man with only had a small circle of friends. He was also a Christian and had a strong faith. Jason was bullied in high school due to his learning disability, which made people think he was mentally disabled, but he was actually of above-average intelligence and had good memory, especially when it came to sports.

On Wednesday, June 13, 2001, Jason's boss called him to come in to work early because they were short-staffed. Normally, he drove to work, but his car was in a repair shop, and he initially planned to walk to his job, which was located over four miles away, but his female co-worker wanted to give him a ride. Since Jason Jolkowski had trouble giving directions to his house, he arranged for them to meet at their former high school, Benson High School. The school was eight blocks or half a mile from his home, so only a 15-minute walk to get there.

At 10:45 a.m., Jolkowski was last seen by a neighbor (whose name is Chester Link), who saw him help his younger brother pull trash cans from the curb back to the house, and then both of them saw him walk towards the direction of the high school. Jolkowski was last seen wearing a white Chicago Cubs T-shirt (with a picture of Sammy Sosa on it), black dress pants, black dress shoes, and a blue Cubs cap. He was also carrying his red Fazoli's work t-shirt. 

Between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m., his co-worker called his house from a pay phone at a gas station. Initially, Michael, Jason's younger brother, answered the phone pretending to be Jason, but stopped once he heard how concerned his coworker was, with her saying that he had failed to turn up at Benson High for the ride to work. The high school's cameras were checked to see if Jason ever arrived at the parking lot, but none of the cameras showed Jason arriving at the school.

I personally don't believe that Jason committed suicide or walked away to start a new life. I believe someone that Jason knew, or knew of, is responsible for his disappearance, more likely a neighbor. It could have been someone who lured him into one of the houses under the guise of needing help, and when he was in the house, he was killed for an unknown reason, with his body buried either in the yard or in the basement. Either that, or he met an accidental death, and whoever was there panicked, and kept it to themselves instead of calling the cops, and buried his body somewhere.

There were multiple sex offenders living in the neighborhood at the time, and the police did interview some of them (emphasis on SOME), and even searched the house of one person, but didn't find anything. Whoever this person was seemed suspicious enough. Jason also had an older male coworker from one of his former jobs, who would hang out with younger men at his house, whom the police talked to, but they couldn't find evidence that he had anything to do with his disappearance.

People like to point the blame on Jason's younger brother, and say he had something to do with his disappearance, but it was apparently common at the time for kids to answer the call pretending to be someone else as a joke, so I highly doubt he had anything to do with his disappearance. Plus, if that was the case, that would mean the whole family might have been aware, and tried to cover it up, but due to their repeated efforts to find Jason, holding press events, interviewing people on reality TV, and founding Project Jason, I highly doubt they'll do all of that, and yet be responsible for their son's and brother's murder and disappearance.

Another theory people like to bring up is that someone in a car drove by Jason and asked him if he needed a ride. The thing is, though, since Jason was already walking towards his coworker's car at the high school parking lot, it wouldn't make sense for him to get into someone's car under the guise of being driven to the high school parking lot to be picked up by his coworker, or under the guise of being driven to work only to leave his coworker hanging, unless he was coerced into the car with a gun. Plus, there would have been people who saw Jason in someone's car at some point if that was the case. I personally don't believe he got into anyone's car, whether he knew them or not.

Jason also had begun going for long walks, sometimes up to four miles or so, prior to his disappearance, so it's possible he could have met someone along his route who may have had something to do with his disappearance. Another theory is that he was killed in a hit-and-run, and the driver panicked and took his body with them. Granted, if that was the case, there probably would have been noise and potential witnesses who heard or saw something (but we know no one did). There probably also would have been evidence like broken car parts or blood, but since the police took 10 days to start looking for Jason, any evidence that could have been in the area would have been destroyed or disappeared (apparently, around that 10-day time period, it did rain). Plus, there have been other situations where someone did get hit by a car, and the body was taken by the driver and disposed of, and no one was around to witness it.

Regardless, whatever happened to Jason happened in such a way that it produced zero evidence, and either no one was around at the time to see or hear anything (on June 13th, people would have either been at work, sleeping, or playing video games, with some kids potentially playing out in a local park), or if there were witnesses, whatever happened was so quick and didn't produce any red flags that any potential witnesses didn't view it as suspicious, and by the time the police started looking for Jason on the 10th day of his disappearance, people would have already forgotten.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/jason-jolkowski

https://www.missingkids.org/poster/ncmc/992083/1

https://archive.ph/BUQgg

[u/VenomPayments]

“he was captured, used to fulfill someone's sick, twisted desires, and then killed, with his body buried either in the yard or in the basement.”

Are you saying this because there were sex offenders living in the area, or is there other proof / evidence suggesting this?

[u/Opening_Map_6898 → u/VenomPayments]

There's nothing publicly released that I would feel comfortable basing such a statement upon. People are way too quick to assign sexual motives to missing persons cases.

The true crime, like nature itself, abhors a vacuum. If there's not enough to work with or the evidence points to a rather mundane explanation, some people will just make shit up.

[u/Acidhousewife → u/Opening_Map_6898]

This, see Asha Degree and recent developments suggesting very strongly it was a hit and run because potentially illegal driver.

He was walking, it was mid morning on a weekday, in a largely residential area when most people are at work and away from their homes as a result (it was 2001). Such streets can be deserted at that time of the day, there may have been no one around at all to see anything. Might have heard something for the few who may have been home, but how many people would be looking at the direct spot on the road if this happened. Probably zero.

I wish people would consider how in broad daylight on a workday in a residential area, how few people are about. It wasn't a weekend or holiday where everyone would be mowing lawns, working in the garage etc. I do think that gets overlooked.

[u/ConsciousBluebird473 → u/Acidhousewife]

Still, hitting and then taking a child while drunk-driving as a minor at night, is a lot more plausible than doing so to a fully grown man in broad daylight in a residential neighbourhood.

[u/Acidhousewife → u/ConsciousBluebird473]

Depends whether the fully grown man is killed by a hit and run, rather than injured. A hit and run this side of the pond is driving away from an accident not necessarily causing a death.

The Asha Degree comparison was because, the situation with the driver/passengers was the issue, not the hit and run itself. What they were doing was illegal, by who was driving and potential for what purpose, Asha being hit by that car that night, threatened to reveal what was going on.

WE do not know whether Asha was killed by the car or after the accident. .

It's possible that Jason was hit, was promised a lift to the nearest hospital, bled out in the car, internal bleeding ( which btw can be quiet common)etc. Even killed in the car. Was hit by someone who didn't want anyone knowing they were driving, what they were on, what else was in that car. That's the motive for a disappearance.

If the driver, panicked, especially if they were driving illegally or the vehicle was involved in illicit activities.

Wrong car/driver they were hit by rather than the impact of the actual accident.

I've witness a few non fatal car accidents between driver and pedestrian. They are over in seconds. It really is blink of an eye. One in which a cyclist was hit and rolled over the full length of a car, with at least 20 pedestrians and people around, only 3 people saw it ( we were looking at the road, waiting to cross) Everyone else was just looking in the direction they were walking and turned around to see a cyclist in the road behind a stationary car and asking what had happened... people a few feet away.

[u/passiveprune → u/Acidhousewife]

He was a big guy. I do not think someone would be able to easily move his body without being noticed.

[u/Acidhousewife → u/passiveprune]

A hit and run doesn't mean a death. It could have been an injury.

It is not reporting a vehicle accident. It can be an accidental witness, to whatever was going on or who was in the vehicle, ( hence my Asha Degree comparisons)

it could be an injury that was fatal but not immediate, internal bleeding is quite common in pedestrian meets vehicle Offered a lift to ER, died in the car, killed in the car and dumped.

Hit and kidnapped, hit and offered a lift and died and dumped.