WI WI - Marie, 70, & Theodore Jost, 44, Portage County, 1982

In my career, I have been involved in the investigation of many similar situations. This kind of "Social Benefit Fraud is far more common in rural areas. In cities, people are constantly leaving a "magnetic" record and all kinds of red flags go up if something is seriously amiss.

"Off the grid" it is hard to prove what is really going and their more urbanized neighbors are disinclined to believe they are capable of fraud. I was involved in the investigation of a family based fraud ring that used photoshopped documents to commit a six figure fraud. They showed up in court dressed like the Beverly Hillbillies pretending to be ignorant, illiterate hicks. The jury either bought it or they just liked the idea of rustic folks outsmarting big city lawyers.

It's a good bet Marie and Ted are buried where they will never be found. Let's hope they died natural deaths.
 
I think it's nearly impossible to say Marie is alive, I agree with that, but as for Ted I don't really know. Not being seen or heard from leads me to think death but as someone that lives around low populated areas it isn't abnormal for people to just fall off the grid. I think the Disher's with the addition of Charles were all acquitted under fairly rational reasons (perhaps not Ronald but I digress) however I think more needed to be done in the search of the area and property- seeing as Charles had almost 15 tons of trash and I can assume that the bodies were in that mess.
 
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Demographics
Missing Age76 Years
Current Age108 Years
First NameMarie
Middle NameD.
Last NameJost
Nickname/Alias--

SexFemale
Height5' 5" (65 Inches)
Weight150 lbs
Race / EthnicityWhite / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last ContactMarch 1, 1988
NamUs Case CreatedNovember 28, 2012
Last Known Location Map
LocationAmherst Junction, Wisconsin 54407
CountyPortage County

Circumstances of DisappearanceMarie D. Jost was last known alive in approximately 1988 although she may have been missing since as early as 1980. Her disappearance was made known to Law Enforcement through an investigation by the Social Security Administration.
Physical Description
Hair ColorBrown
Head Hair Description--
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye ColorBrown
Right Eye ColorBrown

R/O

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The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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Demographics
Missing Age42 Years
Current Age82 Years
First NameTheodore
Middle NameJ.
Last NameJost
Nickname/Alias--

SexMale
Height6' 0" (72 Inches)
Weight170 lbs
Race / EthnicityWhite / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last ContactJanuary 1, 1980
NamUs Case CreatedNovember 28, 2012
Last Known Location Map
LocationAmherst Junction, Wisconsin 54407
CountyPortage County

Circumstances of DisappearanceTheodore's disspaearance was learned through an investigation by the Social Security Administration. He was last known to be alive in approximately 1980.
Physical Description
Hair ColorBrown
Head Hair Description--
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye ColorBrown
Right Eye ColorBrown

R/O

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The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
 
Last edited:
The Doe Network
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Photo from approximately 1972 and second photo from sometime in the 1950's


Theodore J. Jost
  • Case Classification: Endangered Missing
  • Missing Since: January 1, 1980
  • Location Last Seen: Amherst Junction, Portage County, Wisconsin




Physical Description
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.


  • Date of Birth: November 15, 1937
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 45
  • Race: White
  • Gender: Male
  • Height at Time of Disappearance: 60 - 84 inches
  • Weight at Time of Disappearance: 100 - 300 lbs.
  • Hair Color: Brown
  • Eye Color: Unknown
  • Alias(s) / Nickname(s): None


  • Distinguishing Marks/Features: None


  • Dentals: Unavailable
  • Fingerprints: Unavailable
  • DNA: Unavailable
Clothing & Personal Items
  • Clothing: Unknown


  • Jewelry: Unknown


  • Additional Personal Items: Unknown




Circumstances of Disappearance
Theodore's disappearance was learned through an investigation by the Social Security Administration. He was last known to be alive in approximately 1980. His mother, Marie Jost went missing at the same tim
 
Isn't this something else. Everybody gets off scot-free. $175,000 gone, nobody has to pay this back? Charles is Guilty but Not Guilty Due to Mental Disease/Defect. Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Delores has cancer so her charges are dismissed. It's amazing how many people get away with murder and other crimes. They all said Marie was still alive travelling the country with Theodore in 2012. When Delores passed away in 2015 it states that Marie preceded her in death and Theodore survives her in California. I guess they have to try to keep up the lie that he is still living. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/s...n=dolores-may-disher&pid=176889724&fhid=18406
 
Isn't this something else. Everybody gets off scot-free. $175,000 gone, nobody has to pay this back? Charles is Guilty but Not Guilty Due to Mental Disease/Defect. Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Delores has cancer so her charges are dismissed. It's amazing how many people get away with murder and other crimes. They all said Marie was still alive travelling the country with Theodore in 2012. When Delores passed away in 2015 it states that Marie preceded her in death and Theodore survives her in California. I guess they have to try to keep up the lie that he is still living. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/s...n=dolores-may-disher&pid=176889724&fhid=18406


Marie grew up in Chicago. She was married and had her children in Chicago.
Her husband passed away in Chicago in 1963.

I've seen some crazy obituaries of criminals here. Like in drug kingpin, worst of the worst.
 

Theodore J. Jost and Marie Jost​

Updated: Jan 9, 2022
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Theodore Jost is a U.S. Army Veteran who was last known to be alive in approximately 1980 in Amherst Junction, WI.

The Portage County Sheriff's Department was asked on Aug 30th, 2012 to do a welfare check on Theodores mother, Marie Jost. The Social Security Administration had been unable to contact Marie Jost, even though her Social Security checks were still being cashed. Theodore qualified for Social Security benefits but never applied for them.

Upon arriving the police made contact with Marie’s son, Charles T. “Butch” Jost but he claimed his mother was traveling with Theodore. He was unable to provide a description of a vehicle and refused to allow the police to look around the property. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, neither Charles nor Theodore own any vehicles and neither have a valid driver's license.

Two neighbors, who had lived in the area for years, were interviewed and both claimed to have never seen an elderly woman at Charles’ residence.

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Investigators questioned Marie Jost’s daughter Delores M. Disher and her husband Ronald Disher, who lived in Almond, Wisconsin. They both gave inconsistent statements.

Delores Disher claimed at first to have seen her mother less than a year before then her story changed to say she had not seen her mother since her sisters funeral in 1980. The Dishers had also told police that Theodore and Marie had been traveling in a motor home for the last 30 years. They went on to claim that Charles is the only one who has contact with Marie.

During Ronalds interview he became agitated and pulled out a metal file and threatened officers at the scene. He was taken into custody. While in custody, he reportedly told other inmates he and Delores had killed Marie. The inmates who reported this knew more about Marie's disappearance than had been released to the public at the time, and police believe their statements.

Marie Household, another of Marie's daughters, said she had not seen her mother since 1980. Household claimed to have sent her mother a packet of cards and photos for her 100th birthday in 2011 and received a Thank You letter in response.

Prosecutors believe Charles Jost and the two other family members pocketed $175,000.00 of Jost's Social Security benefits. Authorities said they discovered $9,000.00 in the home plus $8,000.00 at the Disher's home.

Charles Jost, Delores Disher and Ronald Disher were charged with theft, mail fraud, forgery, and unauthorized use of an individual's personal document. Charles Jost was found not guilty by reason of mental defect. Charges against Delores were dismissed due to her medical problems. In 2014, the jury deliberated for more nearly 10 hours, but could not agree on whether Ronald Disher played a role in a fraud scheme that involved cashing his mother-in-law's Social Security checks.

Investigators believe Marie's children either murdered her or simply concealed her death in order to keep her benefit checks, but little is known about her disappearance and the circumstances of Theodore's disappearance are even more uncertain. Their cases remain unsolved.

 

“This is probably once in a career type of thing,” “There was just a lot of things that didn’t add up. Still don’t,” “The biggest thing is to clear your conscience if you know something. You know, why take this to the grave with you.” “The biggest thing is to clear your conscience if you know something. You know, why take this to the grave with you?”

Little did Lieutenant Wayne Kropidlowski and the rest of the Portage County Sheriff’s Office know, that the request would trigger an investigation that would expose a messy and deceitful family tree leaving authorities questioning what really happened on a rural property so many years ago.

Normally when we focus on a case for this podcast series, it has one victim, but this episode is about two missing people and it’s going to get messy in the most literal sense.

Where police focused their search was honestly comparable to a dump.

“We got out there, everything was locked up, we had to cut locks off the doors off the sheds to see if anything was in there. And then that’s when we saw that. For lack of better terms, it was like a hoarder property,” Lt. Kropidlowski said.

The property was about three acres in size in Amherst Junction, roughly 15 miles east of Stevens Point. It’s where several members of the Jost family once called home, including Marie Jost.
 

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