CA CA - Donna Jou, 19, Rancho Santa Margarita, 24 June 2007 *J. Burgess guilty*

christine2448

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Fellow Wser fran has asked that we post this:


Those words, 'You can make a difference,' are stated on AMW by John Walsh each week. This is a time where we would like to ask you, as Websleuth members and readers, to help make a difference in attempting to locate a missing young woman (19). With a click of your mouse and filling out a very short petition form, perhaps you can help bring home this grieving family's daughter.

Missing without a trace, Donna Jou, Rancho Santa Margarita, California. Last seen June 23, 2007.
(Donna's thread at WS)

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/...donna-jou.html

The petition is to the LAPD and the OC Sheriff to allow TexasEquaSearch, who has agreed to participate at the urging of Donna’s dad, to help ‘free of charge,’ in the search for Donna. TexasEquaSearch has brought back hundreds of victims both dead and alive. It’s completely volunteer, they use horses, atvs, boats, divers, cadaver dogs. Tim has his ideas on where Donna may be located, but LAPD and OCS have refused his offer and told him ‘they are not welcome here.’ Tim has even offered to do it without publicity or announcements. At this point, I believe Tim is our only hope of finding Donna and bringing her back home to her family.

Donna Jou of Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca., was home for summer break from San Diego State College, where she was a straight A honor student majoring in physics. Donna aspired to be a neurosurgeon. She was attending summer classes at a local college, being tutored by her older brother (who was home for summer break from Harvard). Donna offered her services on the site Craig's List, to tutor math. Somehow, Donna became acquainted unknowingly with a sexual predator, a convicted sex offender, who was unregistered. He used another name on craigslist and also someone else's picture.

It's been said Donna went off on a motorcycle with the now, 'suspect,' that fateful day, believing him to be the boyfriend of a friend, who Donna was to meet at a party. The friend never showed. It is known that her friend never showed up, because the person she left with, John Steven Burgess, scared her and she locked herself in the bathroom and called a friend all the way in San Diego and talked for about 20 minutes. That is the last KNOWN conversation Donna had with friends or family.

Donna never returned home that night but a text message was sent to her mom saying she was in San Diego and her battery was dying, she'd be home later. That cell text was traced back to the vicinity of where Donna was last known to be seen. Donna normally, never text her mom, so many believe it was not Donna who sent that message.

The suspect, John Steven Burgess, when Donna was reported missing and LAPD began looking for 'him,' quickly packed his truck with boxes, collected rent from his nine (foreign exchange students), took off in his truck and threw away a tool box about 1 1/2 miles from his home which contained the license plate of his vehicle, rubber dishwashing gloves, a motorcycle helmet, rope and a scrub brush. He was later arrested on drug charges in the state of Florida and a few days later his truck was found, painted a different color.

After legal wrangling in Florida were concluded over his drug charges, Burgess was extradited to California for not registering as a ‘sex offender.’

Burgess also called himself Sinjin Stevens. Burgess growing up in Jacksonville, Florida,
joined the Army and went for a tour of duty in Iraq in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
When he later traveled to California, he had a dream of going into movies. He met a girl and they had a baby daughter. The relationship didn't work out and the couple parted.

Burgess has three battery convictions in 2002, a 2005 arrest after police say he beat up his ex-girlfriend , and he was also charged with trying to force a teenage girl into prostitution.

The suspect in the Donna Jou disappearance was to appear in court Sept. 5th , for failing to register as a sex offender, but he opted to appear a day early so as to avoid a much publicized demonstration planned to get him to tell the family where their daughter was. The family is now being represented by Gloria Allred.

From what I understand, the only statement made by the suspect was through his attorney in which he said ‘he’d tell all he knew about Donna, if he were granted immunity.’

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Let’s get TexasEquaSearch here and find Donna and bring her home to her family. Then they can prosecute the suspect to the fullest extent of the law!

PLEASE HELP THIS GRIEVING FAMILY. All it will take is for your signature to ‘make a difference.’
fran
 
UPDATE from fran 9/21/07 :woohoo: :clap: :clap: :clap:


"You can make a difference."
Thank you to everyone who took a moment to sign Donna's petition. Because of YOU, there's been some progress in the search for Donna Jou from Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca. According to the the most recent media article, http://www.click2houston.com/news/14130512/detail.html ,

The director of Texas EquuSearch was scheduled to meet with police in Los Angeles on Monday in hopes of searching the area around Burgess' home.
 
Oh good lord, This is just horrible for her family!
 
From June 2014:

http://www.10news.com/news/father-o...over-impending-release-of-john-steven-burgess

A father told 10News he is angry after finding out the man who killed his daughter is about to be released from prison...

Burgess had answered an ad Jou placed on Craigslist that offered her services as a math tutor. Authorities said Burgess admitted taking Jou to party at his home in west Los Angeles. It was there that he said he gave the Orange County native cocaine and heroin. Burgess claimed Jou died of an overdose. He acknowledged that he panicked and dumped her body in the ocean, saying, "I went down to my sailboat and gave her to the sea"... In 2009, Burgess pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sent to prison...

"He has conned the system. He has lied and they have negotiated with him and he is going to go out and harm other innocent people," Reza Jou told 10News.
 
What a tragic case on so many different levels. Don't forget Donna, WS.

jou_donna.jpg jou_donna2.jpg jou_donna6.jpg jou_donna7.jpg

Details of Disappearance
Jou was left mother's Rancho Santa Margarita, California apartment at 5:30 p.m. on June 23, 2007. She was in the company of John Steven Burgess, also known as Sinjin Stevens, whom she met on the internet. That day was the first time they had met in person, although they had previously exchanged emails and telephone calls.
A photograph of Burgess is posted with this case summary.

He and Jou left together on Burgess's black 1981 Yamaha motorcycle with license plates numbered 14X1224, and went to a party at his rented home in the 3600 block of Faris Drive in West Los Angeles, California.

Jou called a male friend while she at the party. She stated she had locked herself in the bathroom because Burgess was "freaking her out" and she wanted to avoid him.

On the evening of June 24, Jou's mother received two cellular phone text message from Jou's phone. The first read "Goodnight Momy. Love you" and the second read "battery dead. in san diego and be home later. love you Momy." Her family believes she did not send these text messages herself. Jou normally wrote "u" for "you" in text messages, and she didn't use the term "Mommy."

Jou never returned home and has never been heard from again. Her family reported her missing on June 26, after she failed to show up for work and school.

She was a pre-med student at San Diego State University in 2007. She lived in the college's dormitories during the school year. She was living with her mother for the summer, attending classes at Santiago Canyon Community College, and working at a Payless shoe store.
She maintained a high grade point average and dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. She normally kept in close touch with her family and it is extremely uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning.

There has been no activity on her cellular phone, credit cards or bank accounts since her disappearance.
Jou's family describes her as academically brilliant but not streetwise, and very naive and trusting. She graduated from Clear Lake High School in Clear Lake, Texas in 2006.

Burgess is a convicted sex offender. He was not on the sex offender registry, as was required by law, at the time of Jou's disappearance.

In July 2007, on the same day he was named a person of interest in Jou's case, he fled to Jacksonville, Florida, where he was arrested on cocaine possession charges. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to time served and extradited back to California, where he posted bail, was released, and returned to Florida.
Burgess was then rearrested in Jacksonville for shoplifting and possession of fake identification giving his name as Logan Anderson.

He was extradited to California a second time, convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and sentenced to three years in prison.

He refused to cooperate with authorities in Jou's case. Through his attorney, he offered to make a statement about Jou's disappearance is given immunity from prosecution on the charge of failing to register, but prosecutors declined Burgess's offer.

Authorities quickly concluded Jou had been the victim of a homicide, but for nearly two years they had insufficient evidence to bring charges in her case. In March 2009, 21 months after Jou went missing, Burgess was charged with involuntary manslaughter in her case.

Investigators stated she died of an accidental drug overdose at a party the night she vanished, and that Burgess had supplied her with cocaine and heroin. He was also charged with additional charges of misdemeanor concealment of an accidental death and sale or transportation of heroin and cocaine in connection with the alleged incident.

Burgess confessed when the police presented him with their evidence. He told them he rented a boat and dumped Jou's body far off the southern California shore a day or two after her death.

In May 2009, Burgess pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and concealment of an accidental death. He also apologized to the Jou family for the pain he had caused them. In exchange for his guilty plea, the drug charges were dropped.

Burgess was sentenced to five years in prison, but released in December 2011, after serving only half his time. He violated parole and was returned to prison, but was released a second time in July 2014.

Jou's body has never been located, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Investigating Agency
Orange County Sheriff's Department 714-647-7000

Information from:
Donna Haghighat Jou – The Charley Project
 

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