NE NE - Jason Jolkowski, 19, Omaha, 13 Jun 2001 - #3

[studebkr]

These 2 sites are good for looking up the property records with who lived where and when. The first site is more of a basic outline of who owns the house and when they sold it, and the second site (which you'll have to register an account for) has in-depth property documents like deeds.

... and then one morning, I woke up to this alert from my youtube channel: "My research on the Jason Jolkowski disappearance led me to learn that you were their next door neighbor at the time. Do you know who the nefarious neighbor was that likely nabbed him?"

It kind of spooked me, though I had anonymously monitored the case on Reddit and Webslueths for years. So I decided to sign up, and that's how I got involved with you all.

Sad that we don't know anymore now, than we did then, though I pick up little nuggets all the time. For instance, I didn't know the boys went to WestSide HS until this year.

I do find some comments funny. Y'all think we have barns and stuff. Omaha and surrounding area is a million people. We stopped using stage coaches and steam trains about 40 years ago. ;-)

 

[Shimno]

Regarding Jason taking time off from college because he needed to save up money to pay for tuition, I wonder if that was the real reason why he left college? Could there have been another reason?

Making several assumptions here, I know, but community college is not that expensive, especially in the 90’s and early 00’s. There are also student loans that can easily be taken out to pay the tuition. You can also do a payment plan where you pay as you go. I was a community college student in the late 90’s and it was less than 4k per year to be a full time student. I don’t know what other bills he may have had, but 4k is doable when you live at home and work part time. And if it’s not a doable amount, you get a student loan.

I understand there are variables here I can’t possibly know, like maybe he was debt averse, or his parents told him not to take out a loan and to save up instead. Who knows.

I read here that he went to college in Iowa. Really? According to Google, it’s two hours from Omaha to the Iowa state line. Am I reading that correctly? What was he majoring in? Could he not have done that same degree at a local community college? Maybe he had to pay out of state tuition which was more expensive?

I grew up abt 3 miles from the Iowa Community College & the Nebraska state line is abt 4-5 miles - not 2 hours. Many from that part of Iowa work, dine, go to movies, look @ Christmas lights, etc. in Omaha - it's one metropolitan area.

 

[ekardh]

I can certainly see a scenario where Jason gets into a familiar person's car, only to be spirited away for nefarious purposes. I don't think Jason would have gone with someone offering him a ride to Fazoli's, as he wouldn't want to stand up the person sent to pick him up. This scenario only works if the person is from Fazoli's and misleads Jason into thinking there's a change of plan. But I already stated before why I find this theory to be improbable. You'd need someone else to rush to Jason's house and time his arrival perfectly to intercept him before he got to the highschool. And for what motive?

More likely, the person Jason encountered offered him a ride to the highschool. I still believe that Jason stopped by someone's house on route to the school. Maybe after telling that person their meet-up was cancelled, it was a "Well, at least let me drop you to the school" scenario, resulting in abduction.

 

[retrometro]

There are so many mysterious things about this case that I'm not even sure what to think anymore. I've tried to come up with a lot of counterfactuals and "what if?" scenarios and most of them have more holes than Swiss cheese.

It makes sense that JJ could have accepted a ride from someone who seemed familiar--or does it?? I'm not sure. I think he would have told the driver to take him to Benson HS or perhaps Fazoli's, even though the latter would have meant ditching the co-worker at Benson. What I can't get my brain around is what happened next in that sequence. If the driver started to go somewhere else, JJ would have logically said something like, "Hey, where are we going?" Remember that his house was a less than 5-minute drive from Benson and it's a route that he walked hundreds of times as a HS student. Even if he wasn't good at giving directions, I doubt he was so spatially disoriented that he failed to recognize his own neighborhood. I'm imagining the driver then made up an excuse like, "I forgot something at my house" or "I need to pick something up from a friend's pace."

Maybe Jason went with that person and something sketchy happened during the stop, but if I were in that situation, I think the more likely response would have been, "That's cool. Let me out here and I'll walk the rest of the way to Benson." Maybe the driver was a John Wayne Gacy-style predator who set up their car to be locked from the inside and/or had an accomplice pointing a weapon, but that seems unlikely to me. It seems even more unlikely to me that they drove to some remote locale with JJ as a willing passenger. The further off the Benson/Fazoli's route, the more suspicious I think JJ would have become.

I don't know what happened, but of all the scenarios that have ever been posted in various discussion forums over the last 21 years, I think the "unknown stop" theory is the best explanation with the fewest question marks attached. For some reason that we lack evidence to explain, Jason intentionally made an unknown stop or short detour along the route and met his fate there. That's my best guess but still leaves so many unanswered questions.

 

[deadinthewater]

More likely, the person Jason encountered offered him a ride to the highschool. I still believe that Jason stopped by someone's house on route to the school. Maybe after telling that person their meet-up was cancelled, it was a "Well, at least let me drop you to the school" scenario, resulting in abduction.

This seems plausible to me as well. Jason stopping by somebody's house on the way and then obviously he has to get going because he's meeting his coworker, however, the perpetrator says something along the lines of, "Don't worry, stick around for another few minutes. I'll drive you to Benson/ make sure you get there on time."

Something dark then escalated at this person's house, or in the car.

 

[Alleykins]

Based on what we know, as little as it is, I don't think Jason stopped at someone's house on the way. He didn't have time. He'd take a risk of that person answering the door in a timely manner. Or at all. And when they answered, he'd have only time for a quick "Hey, change of plans, gotta run. Bye."

I can see him dropping off a quick note in the mailbox. That's about all he'd have time for.

And what are the chances that this person's house just happened to be on his route to the high school? Any deviation off the route would cause delay, and, based on what we've been told about his character, he was a responsible person. I don't see him deliberately delaying his meet-up with the coworker, who was adamant he show up.

To me, one of the only scenarios that seems to fit is someone else, someone he knew, offering him a ride, and, being in a rush, he accepted the ride to the school. Then once in the car, he was subdued. I don't think it farfetched someone he knew drove by at that exact moment, spotted him walking and offered him a ride, especially if that person lived in the area. Though only a handful stopped and offered me a ride when they spotted me walking, I used to see people I knew drive by me all the time when I was out and about in my neighborhood. When I got older, this included my friends and classmates, too. And, as a teen, if my friends and I were out joyriding and spotted someone we knew and liked out walking, we always stopped and offered rides or asked if they wanted to come along. Heck, 10 years ago, I saw an old classmate I used to hang out with eons ago out walking and I pulled over and offered him a ride, even asked if he wanted to go for coffee so we could catch up. Running into someone you know while walking in a neighborhood you grew up in is not unusual.

 

[MatthewTyler]

I'm starting to lean towards car over house now, too. Just by how quickly he disappeared and how nobody spotted him past his driveway, I tend to think that there was a ride waiting for him outside. But again, given how fast he disappeared, I just can't see it being a random coincidence. I can take a short walk through my own neighborhood and pass at least a few cars, people walking dogs, or little kids running around outside. The fact that nobody recalled seeing him just leads to believe that he didn't make it more than a couple houses before hopping into a vehicle. Yes, the 10 days could blur things up, but someone decked out in Chicago Cubs gear carrying a red shirt would be at least somewhat memorable. Something about a less social, awkward guy just screams internet chatroom. I can't help but still wonder if Jason maybe was talking to someone online who lived in the city and they agreed to meet. Maybe they had plans that day where this guy was going to pick Jason up (because he didn't have his own car), then work calls and plans change, but Jason can't reach this guy because he's not online. Then the guy shows up by Jason's home, Jason gets in, and says something like "hey, there was a change of plans, can we hang out after work instead?" Internet guy offers to give him a lift to Benson High anyway, but from there it turns dark.

 

[vandeeje]

The thing I can't get my mind around is that they called him into work that day, so it's likely he wouldn't have been walking that direction that day.

The most likely scenarios I can see are that it was a completely random person driving by asking for help or something similar, that someone in their yard stopped him on the way, or that he stopped to see someone and it went bad.

While Omaha/Council Bluffs is a metropolitan area it just seems far easier to transport the remains out of town, rather than take the risk closer to their home.

 

[vandeeje]

Something about a less social, awkward guy just screams internet chatroom. I can't help but still wonder if Jason maybe was talking to someone online who lived in the city and they agreed to meet. Maybe they had plans that day where this guy was going to pick Jason up (because he didn't have his own car), then work calls and plans change, but Jason can't reach this guy because he's not online. Then the guy shows up by Jason's home, Jason gets in, and says something like "hey, there was a change of plans, can we hang out after work instead?" Internet guy offers to give him a lift to Benson High anyway, but from there it turns dark.

This as well. I don't know if there are any true facts that point to JJ being LGBT+ but if it's true the chatroom theory makes much more sense. Especially since it's been said that the family was so religious. Even if he wasn't, someone pretending to be a woman isn't unlikely. The Dexter killer comes to mind.

 

[retrometro]

Trying to set aside my preconceived notions for a moment, the best explanation for a car scenario that I can think of is this: Jason was due to start a new job soon. Maybe he was annoyed/upset that Fazoli's had called him in, accepted a ride from someone he knew, happened to express annoyance to that person, and that person (sensing opportunity) convinced him to forget Fazoli's and from there things turned dark. It's still a bit weird, but I don't see how a perp would get Jason to willingly get into a car and abandon his plan if there wasn't some element of trust involved.

 

[MatthewTyler]

This as well. I don't know if there are any true facts that point to JJ being LGBT+ but if it's true the chatroom theory makes much more sense. Especially since it's been said that the family was so religious. Even if he wasn't, someone pretending to be a woman isn't unlikely. The Dexter killer comes to mind.

I don't even mean that Jason was necessarily gay, though if there were SOME kind of secret about him, that would be my guess. It could have just as easily been a sports chatroom. Maybe they were going to meet up and go to the college world series game together, who knows. I don't doubt that there was some aspect of Jason's life that his family didn't know. I don't care what any parent says, no parents ever know 100% everything about their teenagers. My family doesn't know everything I did growing up, and most likely all of yours don't know either. Friends would have been the best avenue to find out more about Jason's personal life, but sadly it doesn't seem like he had any to share with. All the more reason to go online.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Agree completely that JJ getting into a car was probably what happened. I've always found his being lured into a house as one of the lesser possibilities/explanations.

So - if he did disappear due to being willingly picked up while walking - the person probably offered him a ride to the school so he could meet up with his co-worker. And, I suspect something horrible happened not long after he got inside. Yes, it may have been difficult for the perp. to have subdued JJ when he was outside the car - but, once inside the car - any number of things could have happened.

As I've mentioned before, I'm still not convinced that the perp. was someone JJ knew - or necessarily knew well.

 

[MatthewTyler]

The car angle is also tricky too, because it kind of depends on what the purpose of this abduction was. If this was a sexual assault, that may be a tough to do on a grown man in a car in broad daylight. Even with a gun pointed to his head, did they drive off some where secluded enough to do that in the day?And then why risk killing him in the car and getting DNA all over? And again, if he took Jason somewhere like the woods, that's also still pretty risky to pull off during the day. The woods in that area seem to all be hiking trails, so there was bound to be people around. Unless it was instant chloroform to the mouth and then bringing him inside a house via attached garage.

 

[Andreee]

The thing I can't get my mind around is that they called him into work that day, so it's likely he wouldn't have been walking that direction that day.

The most likely scenarios I can see are that it was a completely random person driving by asking for help or something similar, that someone in their yard stopped him on the way, or that he stopped to see someone and it went bad.

While Omaha/Council Bluffs is a metropolitan area it just seems far easier to transport the remains out of town, rather than take the risk closer to their home.

Someone had mentioned a few pages earlier that Jason was due to work later that day, now I am not sure about that as there have been so many twists and turns in this mysterious case. I know in the past we have discussed the roadwork/construction work that was being done in the general direction of the school, and the possibility that Jason somehow fell into a sewer system or similar on his way to the school. Oh, how I wish that the answer was as simple as that! And that there had been a chance to find him there at the time, but now... I think that possibility has been ruled out now entirely? As far as Jason being buried in the perp's backyard, I think that would be a major undertaking considering his size, but hidden in a basement is a possibility. However, with the passage of time, new house owners coming and going, I would think evidence of this would be or will be uncovered at some point. IMO running away is not an answer either. I think a car abduction is most likely and that Jason is out of the city limits in farmland or in a wilderness area, sadly enough.

 

[Andreee]

The car angle is also tricky too, because it kind of depends on what the purpose of this abduction was. If this was a sexual assault, that may be a tough to do on a grown man in a car in broad daylight. Even with a gun pointed to his head, did they drive off some where secluded enough to do that in the day?And then why risk killing him in the car and getting DNA all over? And again, if he took Jason somewhere like the woods, that's also still pretty risky to pull off during the day. The woods in that area seem to all be hiking trails, so there was bound to be people around. Unless it was instant chloroform to the mouth and then bringing him inside a house via attached garage.

It does all seem so unlikely, everything we come up with! Frustrating case. I would like to find a list of tv shows and cold case groups that sometimes look for suggestions of cases to cover, and send JJ's disappearance as a possible one to cover. I know its been done in the past, but worth a try I guess.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Yes, there's a slim possibility that JJ met with an accident on his way to the school, especially if he was walking through an area where there was construction & possible holes in the ground/unsteady footing, etc. Maybe he was cutting through such an area as a short-cut to the school?! However, if this was the case - you would think his body would have been found by now - maybe. That being said, even if the search for him was thorough (which I don't think it was), he could easily have been missed. I know that sometimes the bodies of people who have died via mishaps have been found years later.

I still say that the car abduction is the most plausible. And, again - if this is what happened, JJ probably got into the car willingly and whatever happened may have occurred shortly thereafter. Once in there, he could have been subdued in any number of ways. The chloroform suggestion makes a lot of sense.

I still think only one perp. was involved, but it's also possible (though IMHO not that plausible) that one person was driving & another one was in the back-seat with a weapon on JJ, etc. However, two perps. are less likely because it would have been more difficult to conceal a crime like this for years if two people had been involved.

After JJ's disappearance, the perp. may have moved from the area. He may also be deceased at this point.

In any case, this is one of the most baffling & sad cases I've ever read about.

 

[studebkr]

I grew up a little West of where JJ lived. One weekend I was to meet some friends for a game of touch football in the side lot of an elementary school. When I arrived, I though I had pulled in behind my buddy's Pinto, and tapped the horn and flashed my lights. It was not him, but a couple making out. They were upset and went away to come back later with friends. I went away with a broken jaw that night. Even though I could point out that there were now 2 identical Pintos parked on the street, and that it was an honest mistake. They didn't care. They were looking for a fight.

My point is, JJ could have gotten to the High School and approached a car that he thought was his co-worker, but instead a couple of gang bangers that didn't appreciate having their car door touched. It would have had to be out of the camera view, or on the street approaching the school.

JJ was pretty street wise, though. One day there were some banger-wanna-be kids throwing rocks at his house. He could have went out and yelled at them, but he walked out and talked to them, and diffused the situation. It never happened again. The parted with this feeling of mutual respect.

 

[deadinthewater]

JJ was pretty street wise, though. One day there were some banger-wanna-be kids throwing rocks at his house. He could have went out and yelled at them, but he walked out and talked to them, and diffused the situation. It never happened again. The parted with this feeling of mutual respect.

This makes me very sad. Instead of choosing to escalate the violence, he chose to approach the situation cordially and in peace. All the more upsetting that he likely came across a situation he couldn't diffuse the day he went missing. He really sounded like such a quality human being.

 

[Alleykins]

I grew up a little West of where JJ lived. One weekend I was to meet some friends for a game of touch football in the side lot of an elementary school. When I arrived, I though I had pulled in behind my buddy's Pinto, and tapped the horn and flashed my lights. It was not him, but a couple making out. They were upset and went away to come back later with friends. I went away with a broken jaw that night. Even though I could point out that there were now 2 identical Pintos parked on the street, and that it was an honest mistake. They didn't care. They were looking for a fight.

My point is, JJ could have gotten to the High School and approached a car that he thought was his co-worker, but instead a couple of gang bangers that didn't appreciate having their car door touched. It would have had to be out of the camera view, or on the street approaching the school.

JJ was pretty street wise, though. One day there were some banger-wanna-be kids throwing rocks at his house. He could have went out and yelled at them, but he walked out and talked to them, and diffused the situation. It never happened again. The parted with this feeling of mutual respect.

That's cool to hear he was a good negotiator.

I've never been to Nebraska, so I rely on Google maps street view to navigate unknown areas. Not sure if I read the map correctly, but I believe I have the right location for Jason's house. It's on the corner of Pinkney and N 48th, isn't it? If so, it looks like the way from Jason's house to the high school isn't too difficult. It also boggles my mind he would have difficulty giving directions to his house, at least from the HS.
If I do have the right place, what route do you think he would have taken, would have been easiest on a hot day?
Would he gone up N 48th to Bedford, or cut across Pinkney to N 48th Ave to Bedford?
On the map, the second option seems less hilly, but either way, Bedford looks to be an atrociously long uphill climb to the high school from either approach.
And if I have the totally wrong location, please let me know. TIA.

 

[vandeeje]

That's cool to hear he was a good negotiator.

I've never been to Nebraska, so I rely on Google maps street view to navigate unknown areas. Not sure if I read the map correctly, but I believe I have the right location for Jason's house. It's on the corner of Pinkney and N 48th, isn't it? If so, it looks like the way from Jason's house to the high school isn't too difficult. It also boggles my mind he would have difficulty giving directions to his house, at least from the HS.
If I do have the right place, what route do you think he would have taken, would have been easiest on a hot day?
Would he gone up N 48th to Bedford, or cut across Pinkney to N 48th Ave to Bedford?
On the map, the second option seems less hilly, but either way, Bedford looks to be an atrociously long uphill climb to the high school from either approach.
And if I have the totally wrong location, please let me know. TIA.

I had the same thought about how easy it would be to give directions, but a few posts above said there was quite a bit of construction in the area. This and the fact that they were calling him in. I know with some of my processing delays it could have been faster to have them meet at the school than to take a few extra moments to consider the construction and where they're coming from, if that makes sense.