Gone off course
Missing golfer leaves friends wondering
By GARY D'AMATO
gdamato@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Jan. 28, 2003
Jerry Strege was a big man with a sizable talent in golf. A late bloomer, he worked hard on his game and was playing the best golf of his life at 43.
He was ranked 11th on the 2002 Wisconsin State Golf Association's player of the year points list and was, in the words of two-time State Amateur champion Bob Gregorski, "on the cusp of being in the top five."
Strege, of Waupun, scheduled vacations from his job as a prison guard at Dodge Correctional Institution so that he could play in tournaments. He thrived on competition, and his peers described him as quiet, easy to play with, focused and intense.
Few people got to know Strege well, however, and he hid mounting personal problems from the close-knit fraternity of the state's top golfers.
If only there had been signs that Strege was troubled, his friends say, they would have tried to help.
Now, they fear, it is too late.
Jerry Strege has been missing since Oct. 2, when he failed to show up for work.
When his father visited his apartment to check on his whereabouts, he found the front door unlocked, the television on, Strege's car and motorcycle in the garage and his wallet and ID still on the kitchen counter.
Only one item was missing, according to Terry Flesch, one of Strege's closest friends:
His handgun.
"At this point, we don't know if there was a handgun involved," said Waupun police detective Jim Zimmerman. "We know there was ammunition for a handgun but we're not sure that he owned one."
Said Flesch: "I know Jerry owned a handgun. He showed it to me on more than one occasion."
In the nearly four months that Strege has been missing, there have been no signs that he might yet be alive.
There has been no activity in his bank accounts and Strege, divorced with no children, has made no contact with family or friends.
"Not one thing," Zimmerman said. "Nothing has been ruled out. We have no indication of foul play, but obviously we have not ruled that out."
Left no note
If Strege committed suicide, as many now believe, he left no note. He also gave no indication to his friends that he was depressed.
"We talked to his friends," Zimmerman said, "and they do not believe he was suicidal or could have committed suicide."
Strege had been arrested for drunken driving on Aug. 15, 2002. It was his fourth such offense since 1999, according to court records. He faced a hearing March 12, and confided in a few close friends that he was worried about losing his job.
But those who knew him best say he did not act different or unusual in the days before he vanished.
"It's really weird how everything happened," Flesch said. "I knew Jerry for quite a while and, honest to God, it's a complete surprise to me."
Furthermore, there were signs that Strege was making plans for the future. On Sept. 20, he left two text messages on the cell phone of Bill Linneman, the director of rules and competitions for the WSGA.
One message read: "William, I need to know the dates for the '03 State Open. Strege." In the other, Strege asked Linneman to try to get him into an invitational in Racine scheduled for the first weekend in October.
His last message
On Oct. 1, the day after Linneman, Strege and Flesch played together in a scramble in Stevens Point - and the day before he was reported missing - Strege left the following message: "Billy, thanks for playing in the Stevens Point scramble. I'll see you the 20th."
"We were going to play in an event at Rolling Meadows (in Fond du Lac) on Oct. 20," Linneman said. "So here's a guy who was thinking about beyond when he disappeared."
Flesch said Strege was quiet during the car ride home from Stevens Point on Sept. 30, but that was not unusual.
"That could be Jerry on a good day or a bad day," Flesch said. "He had his moods. I just took it with a grain of salt because we didn't play very well in the tournament."
A few of his friends are clinging to the hope that Strege has started a new life by relocating and leaving his problems behind. But if he did relocate, he left without his most valued possession: His golf clubs.
"I fear the worst, but I'm hoping for the best," said Gary Menzel, a retired Milwaukee police officer who teamed with Strege to win the 2001 WSGA Two-Man Championship.
Strege also won the 2001 WSGA Governor's Cup championship and tied for 16th in the 2002 State Amateur. In recent years, he had become a fixture in the Nelthorpe Cup matches, a competition that pits Wisconsin's top amateurs against the state's top club professionals.
There's always hope
"To me, it's just so sad," Menzel said. "Jerry could play, believe me. I just think there were things missing in his life that he didn't have anyone to talk to about. He didn't have someone he could confide in. That was his nature."
The theory many now subscribe to is that Strege, who lived on the edge of the Horicon Marsh and hunted in it often, simply walked into the marsh on the night of Oct. 1 or early Oct. 2 and shot himself.
"He knew the marsh very well," Flesch said. "If he committed suicide, he didn't want to be found."
Zimmerman said several independent searches had been conducted, but all were within roughly one mile of Strege's apartment and at the nearby Rock River Country Club, where Strege learned to play.
"His only mode of transportation that we know of was his feet," Zimmerman said. "The searches never extended as far as the Horicon Marsh. I don't know where you would even begin to go in the Horicon Marsh to find somebody."
As the weeks have stretched into months, Strege's fellow golfers have become resigned to the idea that the man who competed so intensely and worked so hard to improve will be missing from the tournament scene this year.
"If Jerry is gone, he'll be missed by the WSGA and, I'm sure, all the players," Linneman said. "He played in a lot of tournaments and loved golf. It would be hard to imagine going into a season without him."
Said Flesch: "I'm still hoping. I'm always hoping, but it is getting harder. The fact of the whole matter is, I never saw it coming. That was Jerry. He kept everything to himself.
"He was a great guy. Everybody has their breaking point.
"I hate to say it, but really, honestly, I think he's gone."
Jerrold Strege was reported missing by his father on October 11, 2002. When his father went to his apartment to see why he was not answering the telephone, he found Jerry's apartment unlocked, lights on and the televison on. All of Jerrold's belongings were in the apartment including his keys, wallet, cell phone, etc. Both of his vehicles were still in the apartment garage. No signs of any type of disturbance could be seen in the apartment. It was found, through investigation, the last time anyone had seen Strege was on his last day of work at Dodge Correctional Institution on October 2, 2003. He was scheduled to be back to work on October 8, 2003 but never showed up or called in which triggered his employer and father to begin looking for him. At least 4 separate searches were conducted over the next several months utilizing volunteers, search teams, canines, and police personnnel but no sign of Strege could be found. To this date nobody has reported any contact with Jerry Strege since his disappearance. Strege was an avid, highly skilled amateur golfer (among the best in the state, they say) and in fact had been planning to compete in a golf tournament on the weekend of October 5 and October 6, 2002. This perplexed many of his golfing friends since he was said to have been looking forward to playing in this tournament.
Direct any information to Det Jim Zimmermann at 920-324-7911 Ext 390
__________________
Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and
Founder,
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org
