Saturday, June 30, 2007

6/30/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, Part VI

Please see this post for an explanation and introduction before reading:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna.html

Part VI: (*Names and places have been changed)

Thursday, June 24th:

I had one more day at work again, and then I could rest. I researched and found the Oakview PD info on the Net and called them late in the morning. I spoke with a *Lt. Parker, who seemed nice, but had to go to a meeting. He gave me the case Detective’s name and direct line, plus his own direct line. He said to call him if I did not get results. I left a message for the case detective, *Mike Monroe.

By afternoon, I decided to email them with all of the information I wanted. I thought that might make it clear what was needed, and then nothing would fall between the cracks. I also thought of finding out his blood type and ours, as I recalled that certain blood types could not exist in children, based on the parent’s types. I also wanted to throw out the emotional appeal, as email communication was nil from this detective back to Omaha.

At work, I casually asked some of my co-workers if they knew anything about blood types and how to know which ones could not exist in offspring, based upon the blood type of the parents. I was desperate enough to ask other people who did not know what was happening to us, questions that might provide information that would help. They thought it odd, as anyone would, why I was asking these questions. I explained in truth, that it is for a missing person’s case I am working on. I was somehow able to discuss it without giving any hints that the missing person’s case I spoke of was indeed very close to my heart.

I then wrote this email letter to Mike:

Mike,

I understand that you are working on this case in conjunction with the Omaha Police. I was just talking with a Lt. Parker there and he did not have time to get the answers I need on this case, which is listed as #2003-5244 on the Oceanview site.

As Lt. Parker told me, it could take months to get a DNA test processed on this young man. I would like to find out whatever information I can, so as to possibly eliminate him as being my son. I do not want to have to keep waiting for these answers, so that anyone who does know, will not have to suffer this additional agony of waiting along with just the general pains that family has in a missing person case. I would appreciate any answers you can provide as quickly as possible.

I spoke with a woman in the coroner's office, who seemed to be familiar with the case. She described this young man as having a "European" look, and that the tops of his ears were somewhat pointy. She also said he had thin, very lt. brown hair. None of those characteristics would match Jason. Jason had also never had his wisdom teeth removed, at least not at the time of his disappearance three years ago. Jason has thick, wavy, medium brown hair, and the tops of his ears were not pointy. His earlobes were rounded and curled up and his ears protruded.

I would also like to verify some information about the feet. Can you please tell me the shoe size in the American equivalent? Jason also had a bad large toenail that at one point had fallen off. I do not recall if it was the right or the left foot. I believe he had injured it, so I would think that it would be fairly likely that if it grew back, it would not be normal. One of his tennis shoes we found was an 11 1/2.

What was his blood type? I believe that both my husband and are are O, but I cannot recall if we are positive or negative. Perhaps that could eliminate something too, as I know certain blood types are not compatible with others.

I cannot imagine why it would take up to 9 months to process this young man's DNA sample. Omaha said they can process ours within a month. No matter, to help us get through such a long waiting period, I would greatly appreciate any and all information you can provide in this respect. We want to know whatever you can tell us.

Whoever this man is, I hope that his family can be located and his killers found so that justice can be served. I hope that he died quickly, and did not have to suffer much. My heart aches for him, regardless of who he is.

Thank you.

Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org

When I called Lt. Parker, I just told him I was from a Missing Person’s organization in Nebraska, which of course was truthful, but I realized there was no need for me to hide who I was. Perhaps that might bring quicker results anyway.

We had decided to share this with Sara, and the time came for me to do it. She sensed there was something very wrong. I could not even tell her on the phone. I emailed her the details and the beginnings of this journal. She was most supportive and had several people praying for me constantly, even though they were not told why.

To be continued...............

Go to Part VII:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/72007-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html

Friday, June 29, 2007

6/29/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, Part V

Please see this post for an explanation and introduction before reading:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna.html

Part V: (*Names and places have been changed)

Wednesday, June 23rd:

Wednesday I went back to work. The day went fairly fast, and I felt ok. When I came home from work, I called the PD again and got Carl on the first ring. He said he didn’t call because he didn’t know anything new. He was waiting for an email from the detective from Oakview, CA, in regards to the shoe size, toenail and any other information. He also was still not sure about the DNA test timeframe, other than he heard it could take up to a month, depending on which lab they sent it to. I then told him that I already knew the shoe size and the UK translation to US sizes as I understood it from the chart on the Internet. I explained that I found the John Doe on the Net and that I wasn’t going to wait around if I could find any information that could eliminate Jason as being the person who suffered that hideous fate.

I told him of my conversation with the woman and what she said about the pointed ears and “European” look. He said that he was working directly with the person most familiar with this John Doe and that he felt strongly enough about him as being Jason to ask for the DNA as we had no dental and no fingerprints. He said he never said anything about that look, and that they were doing it based on his knowledge, because, after all, those DNA tests were going to cost close to $1,000. The only good thing in that was that once taken, those tests could be quickly used for any future ID’s needed, and we could be spared the longer waiting each time.

It then became an evening of ups and downs, and the ‘downs” took precedence.

I received a call from a young woman who is going to do an interview for Omaha Magazine, which she said has a circulation of a million over its two month issue life span. It also gets read by many travelers, as it is in all the hotel rooms and at the airport. This will certainly be great exposure for the project and our mission, plus get Jason’s story out there again, perhaps to a new audience. Press means so much in cases like ours. It’s always such a gift. Jim teases me that I like it for me, but he knows that I would give anything just to go back to our quiet, ordinary lives with our entire family intact and together once again. (They never did publish the interview.)

Tomorrow is Jason’s 23rd birthday. I looked through the mail and there was a birthday card for him. It was from Martha, a woman who lived next door to us in Grand Island when Jason was young. She and her husband, now deceased, loved Jason as if he was their own. Martha occasionally writes to us and has never forgotten Jason. She wrote: “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you, Jason. Happy Birthday, wherever you are! Love, your friend, Martha C.” I think I will mail her a couple of Jason’s buttons and his info card from our Adopt a Missing Person program. I have no doubt that she would like that. In truth, she adopted him all those years ago, when life had some semblance of normalcy. She sent the card out of love, but it was still bittersweet for us to view it.

Later in the evening, Carl’s words started to cause seeds of doubt to creep into my mind. What if that woman had given me incorrect information? It seemed to contradict what the assigned detective said. I tried to put it out of my mind, but it intensified and threw me into a tailspin of pain once again. I hoped that I could get through one more day of work, and especially with it being his birthday. I knew Carl wasn’t trying to be harsh in what he said. He only had his perspective, based on the facts given him. I knew I had to call Oakview myself. I was not going to go through this nor make my family go through it for weeks. If I could verify the strange shoe size and find out about the toenail that would help.

Of all the things that missing person’s families go through, certainly this is the worst. It tops the psychics and the extortionists and all of the others who have tried to take advantage of us. If Jason was dead, I could do nothing, but I prayed he was not this person, who was so brutally murdered.

To be continued...........

Go to Part VI:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/63007-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-vi.html

Thursday, June 28, 2007

6/28/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, Part IV

Please see this post for an explanation and introduction before reading:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna.html

Part IV: (*Names and places have been changed)

Monday, June 21st:

It took me awhile to begin to focus on the work I needed to get done. It wasn’t going to get done by itself, so I had to dig in. Time started to move faster. 4:00 came, and I hadn’t heard anything from Carl. I called and was told he was on a special assignment today. I was not going to put us through this hell another day, so I looked up that awful website and called the number on there to find out about the shoes myself. I scrolled the page down to where I did not have to look at his face. I had to go through a couple of people, but then talked to a woman and told her what I wanted to know about the “John Doe”. She did not even ask who I was until the point of callback. She would research and get back to me.

I went and ran an errand for Project Jason and she called back about 10 minutes after I was home. She said it was a shoe size 9 ¾. The brand of shoes is not common in the US. I checked the web to find out the sizing on that brand. It appears to be one size smaller than American sizing, which would make it 10 ¾. Jason’s tennis shoes were 11 ½. The woman also said that she now knew who I was and had seen photos of Jason. She does not think it is him. She said the boy has a “European” look, thin light brown hair, and the tops of his ears are pointy. This does not match Jason at all. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Jason did not, but who knows what happened in three years time. She was not able to find out about the toenail, but said she will call back if she is able to find out. If the toenail is healthy, I would say that would clinch it. I’m sure they have submitted the DNA comparison test, and that is fine.

Jim is feeling much better now. Just in telling him this, I can hear the immediate change in his voice and demeanor. A huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. Jason could be dead, but who would want the horrid fate of this young man? I told him this is why I had to stay as neutral as I could. I have to protect myself from the full brunt of the pain and the possibilities. One day maybe we’ll get that phone call again, and this time it will be him, or, there could be a knock at our door, and we could find him there, alive and well.

I feel strongly that this person is not Jason. Waiting for the DNA test will not be as difficult armed with this new information. After the past few days, it almost seems “easy” now. Thank God!

Tuesday, June 22nd:

Tuesday was my birthday. The day came and went without a phone call from the police. We went out to eat and shopping at a new mall. We talked about the events of the past few days, and agreed that we would use this story publicly if need be to help people understand the need for an id kit, regardless of their age.

After going through just a few stores, I had enough and wanted to go home. I tried to call the station and ended up leaving another message. They had no idea I had called California, so why would they let us go this long with no answers? I know they are probably short staffed like most government agencies, but it was so difficult to have to wait for answers.

To be continued.....................

Go to Part V:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62907-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-v.html

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

6/27/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, Part III

Please see this post for an explanation and introduction before reading:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna.html

Part III (*Names and places have been changed)

It is now Sunday, and I must get through one day of work, and then I will have two days off. Time is moving excruciatingly slow. It seems as if I have been here 8 hours already, but it has only been a few. It will be an even longer wait until sometime Monday afternoon or evening for any confirmation on shoe size.

The pain permeates my entire body. Like the vision of that face, it burns inside me. There is nothing I can do but try to go through the motions of the day. I have to stop writing this because it is becoming too difficult.

I know in the end what will be will be. I cannot undo what has happened. I can only find a way to deal with it and keep moving as I have for these past three years. I pray for more strength.

Sunday afternoon/evening:

At about 4:15, I could no longer focus on my work and sat quietly. I had to go to Mass right after work as I had not yet been this weekend. I was getting teary eyed again and I did not want to go. I drove there anyway and forced myself to go in. I knew this was the one place I needed to be most of all, despite my very human feelings. I sat away from the majority and left my sunglasses on. I did not want to be seen or to see anyone.

I reflected on the horrific sufferings of Jesus on the cross, and how Mary saw it all. If that young man was Jason, at least I didn’t have to watch him die. As always, our earthly suffering pales as compared to that of Jesus.

In some ways, I felt like Scarlett O’Hara when she realized that she drew her strength from her home and the earth at Tara. I had to remind myself that all of my strength came from above. I knew where to find it when I needed it.

I went home and greeted Jim with a Happy Father’s Day. He was having a hard time of it all, because he believes the body is Jason’s. I told him I had to remain neutral at this point, or at least until we know more, such as the shoe size. There have been rare few times I have seen him become tearful in our marriage, as he is a strong man, and this was one of them. I could feel his great pain and I wished I could say something to help him. We could only hold each other and gently cry.

*Sara, who works with me online in regards to missing person’s cases, wanted to call me to hear all of the news of the tour. I considered telling her because I knew she had walked this path with so many families. I needed to talk to someone who had been through this…..this specific waiting. We talked about many things, but it didn’t seem like the right time to tell her. We had decided to keep it to ourselves until we had additional information, but we wanted to make exception for someone who could guide us in this.

It felt good to talk about all the other things and for the duration of our phone call, I could come as close as possible to having that face leave my thoughts. It was a welcome respite. She might be hurt that I didn’t tell her, but it seemed less selfish to not subject her to our pain.

I have so many things to catch up with after the tour but my focus is gone. It’s going to take a great deal of effort to accomplish what I need to do on Monday. It seems like an eternity to wait until Monday late afternoon/evening, when we are hoping to find out about the shoe size. I pray it is size 10 or less.

Go to Part IV:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62807-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-iv.html

Friday, June 22, 2007

6/22/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, Part II

Please see this post for an explanation and introduction before reading:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna.html

Lead in from yesterday:

We wanted to know what happened to this person. The body had been found in a ditch or ravine in *Oceanview County near *San Andreas, CA last fall. The coroner did an autopsy and as he was a “John Doe” after a period of time, they buried him. I asked how he died. Carl checked to be sure we really wanted to know. We felt like if it was our son, we should know his fate.

Part II: (*Names and places have been changed)

He was stabbed multiple times and then his head was smashed with a rock or other heavy object. The coroner had to reconstruct the head and face as best as they could to take photos for identification purposes.

They took a photo with the eyes open and used that for the artist’s sketch. Carl had this sketch with him. I asked to see it. Jim agreed he wanted to see it, too. Carl showed it to Jim first. Then I looked at it. I didn’t feel it looked completely like Jason, although it could be him. I commented that the teeth in the sketch looked like they had slight gaps between each one. He said that it just appeared that way in the sketch and that the sheriff had looked at photos of Jason’s teeth and said it could be a match. We talked about the fact that Jason’s ears protruded. He said that was one of the reasons why they are looking for the match.

They swabbed us both for DNA and said they will put a rush on it, but they do not know how long it will take, and as it is the weekend, there is no one else around who can check on this timeframe question. I asked about other photos, the ones before they did the reconstruction, and Carl said we probably did not want to look at those. I verbalized that I could never look at them regardless of the outcome.

In the meantime, we gave him some other information, which can be checked into on Monday with the CA office, such as shoe size and the fact that Jason has a bad toenail that may not even be there. If we could eliminate something like this, then we wouldn’t have to wait for the DNA comparison. I would love nothing more than to hear that this person’s shoe size was much smaller than Jason’s. We did find one of his old tennis shoes, and it was an 11 ½.

We were also asked to produce anything of Jason’s which would have fingerprints. We brought out some collector’s cereal boxes, which had nearly been untouched on a high shelf, plus his CD’s, but the crime lab tech said that dust had obliterated any fingerprints that may have been there. They had fingerprints on the John Doe, so, if we had fingerprints, we could have eliminated him that same night. We had none.

After Carl and the crime lab man left, I felt pretty sure I could find what Pam found on the Internet. It took me all of about 8 minutes to locate the page with the sketch and the information. The clothing listed didn’t sound like something Jason would wear, but the fact that there were no piercings or tattoos and the teeth were in very good shape matched Jason. There was no additional information on that page.

The image of this person’s face became seared in my mind. I can see him with or without my eyes closed. No matter who he is, the horrific manner of death is painful to hear. I hoped that he passed out from the pain or from fear, so that he did not have to suffer much. How people can do such things to another human being is hard to fathom, but then again abortion “doctors” do it every single day without thinking a thing of it.

There will be so many questions that might remain unanswered if it is Jason. Did the killer(s) leave behind any evidence? Can they tell if he would have died fairly quick, so as not to suffer? How/why did he get to California? Doesn’t anyone there miss him enough for Law Enforcement to tie together the pieces of the puzzle so that we know what he was doing? What will happen to the body? This list could go on and on.

On Saturday, I went on the last day of our tour. I could have let our two volunteers go on it by themselves, but they had never done a leg of the tour, so that wasn’t a good idea, plus we were to have press, and I couldn’t expect them to do interviews, too. I didn’t want to call anyone else to do it at the last minute and to lie and tell them I was ill. I felt that God would give me the strength to do this last day and no one would be the wiser that these things were transpiring in the background.

I hoped that we wouldn’t have people, as we do quite often, who refuse to take the id kits from us, even though it was obvious they have children, because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to hold my tongue in regards to their refusal to open their eyes to the things that can happen.

I never imagined that I would be the mother of a missing person, but will I now be the mother of a murdered child?

To be continued.......................

Go to Part III:

http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62707-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html



Thursday, June 21, 2007

6/21/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, Part I

Please see this post for an explanation and introduction before reading:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna.html

Part I (*Names and places have been changed)

On the afternoon of Friday, June 19th, 2004, I was on location in Columbus, NE for our Project Jason Miles for the Missing tour, when my cell phone rang. On this state tour, we stopped in various cities, met with the public, and gave out free safety brochures and ID kits. I was not busy at the time, and walked away from the table to talk. It was our police detective, *Carl Roberts, and he said he needed to ask me a personal question. I couldn’t imagine what it would be. He seemed hesitant and the reasons for that hesitancy would become clear to me over the next few minutes.

He then asked the very question that all parents of a missing person fear most: “Do you have dental records for Jason?” There is only one reason to ask such a question. A body has been found that they think is his.

Somehow I was able to remain calm and almost business like in my answers to him. Strike the “somehow” as we all know how I was able to get through this call and the next few days.

Unfortunately, we have no dental records for Jason. He has good, strong teeth, and I do not recall him ever having troubles with cavities. I was always bad about going to the dentist myself, and was remiss as a parent in taking him. I explained this to Carl and gave him the name of a dentist in Grand Island (our hometown) who might have seen Jason. We also had no DNA on him because that was something that no one ever explained to us. After so many months, we had thrown away his toothbrush and anything else that might have given a sample. (After all these things transpired, my mother-in-law checked with every dentist in our hometown, and found that either they didn’t keep records going back that far, or that their records had been lost, therefore, we will never have dental records for Jason.)

I asked Carl what was going on that prompted his call. He said that a body was found in California that was a possible match, but he also indicated that it was not certain at all that it might be Jason, as the information he had was not detailed. He tried to make it seem more like a casual inquiry by stating that they are many who would fit that same description. I knew there must be more to it. He said he would research the dental record possibilities and I was to call him when we arrived back home.

I didn’t tell Jim for awhile as our 16 year-old son, Michael, was with us, and I did not feel it appropriate for him to know just yet. Why put others through the anguish? As soon as Michael left to get a drink, I let Jim know. I think we were both numb. We didn’t say much. What was there to say? There was only the waiting, and we had been waiting for three years.

We had to finish out the day. We had an obligation to the public and to Project Jason. I also had live radio interviews to do 4-5 times per hour. That kept me busy for the duration of the two hours we had left at this location. Not only that, but a woman came up to me who has a missing adult son. He has been missing for over two years and it sounded like very little had been done to locate him. This woman needed our help. Had we turned into ourselves with the news of this body, we would have not been present to meet this woman. I’m always so thankful for the strength God provides when we need it.

We had planned to have a nice sit down meal after we were done, but we needed to get home and find out what was going on. We had to tell Michael why we needed to get home quickly. I was definitely not focused as I ran a red light at a high rate of speed, and had Jim not been paying attention, I would have ran into a car turning in front of us. He yelled to stop and I was able to stop in time before I hit the other car. The angels continued to stay with us and we arrived at home.

I called Carl as soon as we arrived at home. He was out, so we had to wait again. When he called back, he told me that he was going to come over to our house. I knew what that meant. They wanted a DNA sample, as the dental records must not have been located. There must be more to it then just an age and height match. I told him that I wanted to know whatever he was able to tell us. He did.

A woman found this John Doe report and artist’s sketch of the face on the Oceanview County website and thought it looked like Jason. She called the Omaha Police. They checked it out and started having conversations with the sheriff in CA. They shared more photographs and information about Jason. The sheriff there thinks it is Jason. Oddly enough, the woman who came across the site and picture is *Pam Moreno. She was doing research for the Doe Network, which is an organization who works on long term missing persons cases. They research John Does all over the country, trying to find matches for cases that are over 9 years old, which is when they consider them long term. Pam knows Jason’s case well because she represented the first organization to help us, and even though they typically only worked with children, they made an exception for us. So, it was strange that out of all the Doe Network volunteers, she would have been the one to check out this site and find this young man’s information. Someone else would not have noticed the resemblance to Jason.

We wanted to know what happened to this person. The body had been found in a ditch or ravine in *Oceanview County near *San Andreas, CA last fall. The coroner did an autopsy and as he was a “John Doe” after a period of time, they buried him. I asked how he died. Carl checked to be sure we really wanted to know. We felt like if it was our son, we should know his fate.

To be continued..............

Go to Part II:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62207-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-ii.html

6/21/07 The Untold Story: Awaiting DNA, An Introduction

Three years ago, our family received the shocking news that a body had been found in CA. Officials there thought that this young man was our missing son, Jason. What followed this revelation was one of the most painful periods in our life, other than when Jason disappeared.

We were told by authorities we would have to wait, possibly for months, for the information that would reveal whether or not this person was our son. I then began a diary about our experience, unsure of why I felt compelled to do this and what purpose it might serve in the future. In this diary, I documented my efforts to lessen the waiting. I decided that I would do whatever it took to find the answers and relieve my family’s pain.

For the first time ever, this diary is being made public. Most names and places in the diary have been changed. Our intent is not to disparage the involved agencies. We understand how overworked most agencies are when it comes to missing and unidentified persons. Budgets also often don't allow for training, especially in cases of missing persons.

As we always say, we’re going to have to help the public understand our cause in order for them to be willing to pay more taxes or whatever it takes to properly staff and train law enforcement to handle missing persons’ cases.

We are forever grateful for the assistance we’ve had with Jason’s case.

After we did receive the answer about this unidentified person, it took us a long time to recover from the hurt and then discover what we were to do with our story. What we learned from this experience will be revealed at the end of this series on the Voice for the Missing blog.

A dramatized version of the diary was recorded using volunteer voice talents. If you’d like to listen to the diary only before reading the end of the series on the blog, here are the links to the audio files.(The diary will also be published here.)


There are two parts:

http://www.projectjason.org/audio/AwaitingDNAPart1.mp3

http://www.projectjason.org/audio/AwaitingDNAPart2.mp3

As this blog series is published, additional entries will be linked on this entry for your convenience. If you bookmark this link, then you can return here and follow the links to the additional parts to the story as these are published.

I still dislike looking at it, as it brings back such painful memories, but here is the artist’s rendering of the unidentified male from CA (to your right) and a photo of Jason.
















We hope that in sharing this story, others who are going through something similar will be helped in some small way. And, as mentioned before, at the end of the series, we’ll discuss the other reasons and goals behind it.

Part I:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62107-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-i.html

Part II:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62207-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-ii.html

Part III:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62707-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html

Part IV:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62807-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-iv.html

Part V:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/62907-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-v.html

Part VI:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/06/63007-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-vi.html

Part VII:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/72007-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html

Part VIII:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/7507-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html

Part IX:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/7607-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-ix.html

Part X:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/71207-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-x.html

Part XI:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/71407-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part-xi.html

Part XII:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/71707-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html

Part XIII:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2007/07/72107-untold-story-awaiting-dna-part.html

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

6/12/07 Six Long Years Tomorrow

This is the press release for our event. We'll never forget Jason, nor will we ever give up.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

OMAHA MISSING PERSONS' DAY ON THE CUE CENTER NATIONAL TOUR

Omaha Area Families of the Missing Gather to Remember Their Loved Ones

Omaha, NE, - June 13th, 2007- June 13th, 2007, marks the six year anniversary of the disappearance of then 19 year-old Jason Jolkowski from his home in Omaha, NE. To bring awareness for area missing persons cases and garner community support for the families of the missing, Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey is declaring June 13th as Omaha Missing Persons' Day. Project Jason, founded by the family of Jason Jolkowski, is sponsoring an event to commemorate this day. It will be held at Holy Name Church at 2901 N. Fontenelle Blvd. from 6:30-8:30pm. The public is invited to attend.

This event will also serve to honor five other families of missing persons from the area. They, along with the parents of Jason Jolkowski, will share their stories.

In addition, the Cue Center, a nonprofit organization from North Carolina led by founder Monica Caison, which provides assistance for families of the missing, has included Omaha and this event as a stop on their national tour to bring awareness for numerous missing person's cases. The 4th annual "On the Road to Remember Tour" begins on June 11th and concludes on June 21st, covering 2,400 miles, 22 stops in 11 states, and 75 missing person cases.

This moving ceremony will begin with a march led by the Air Force Color Guard with bagpipe accompaniment. The Mayor's office will then present the Omaha Missing Persons' Day proclamation to Kelly Jolkowski, President and Founder of Project Jason, and to Monica Caison, Founder of the Cue Center. The event will also include music and prayer, and will culminate with a symbolic white dove release by each represented family.

Featured Missing Persons' Cases:

Jason Jolkowski disappeared from the driveway of his home in Omaha, NE on Wednesday, June 13th, 2001. He was then 19 years of age. He was preparing to go to work at his part-time job, and was last seen doing his weekly chores outside. http://www.projectjason.org/dpforum/thread.php?id=131

Erin Pospisil was just 15 years old on June 3rd, 2001, when she left her home in Cedar Rapids, IA to go visit a friend. Her friend was not home, and when a car pulled up, Erin went over and spoke with the occupants. She entered that vehicle and was never seen again. http://www.projectjason.org/dpforum/thread.php?id=927

Singer-songwriter Gina Bos disappeared on October 17, 2000 after performing at a pub in Lincoln, NE. The next morning, her vehicle was found across the street from the pub with the trunk ajar and her guitar inside. http://www.projectjason.org/dpforum/thread.php?id=280

Melvin Uphoff was last seen in Rising City, Nebraska on October 24, 1965. He and his wife took their four young children to Shelby, Nebraska and spent the day there before returning to their home in Rising City. At 11:30 p.m. that evening, Uphoff told his wife he was returning to Shelby for a beer. He drove away in his blue and white 1954 Oldsmobile and has never been heard from again. His vehicle was never found. http://www.projectjason.org/dpforum/thread.php?id=341

Nearly 42 years ago, 18 year-old Jackie Rains-Kracman left her home in Columbus, NE, telling her family she was going to a wedding with a friend in Glenwood, IA. The friend returned home, but Jackie didn't. http://www.projectjason.org/dpforum/thread.php?id=725

University of Missouri sophomore Jesse Ross vanished on November 21, 2006, after attending a model United Nations conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, IL. After a dance, Jesse was seen heading towards his hotel room, which was a ten minute walk from the Sheraton. Jesse never made it back. http://www.projectjason.org/dpforum/thread.php?id=729

About Project Jason:

Project Jason, located in Omaha, NE was founded in 2003 by the parents of missing young adult Jason Jolkowski. “Our mission as a non profit organization is to create and increase public awareness of missing people through a variety of outreach and educational activities. Project Jason seeks to bring hope and assistance to families of the missing by providing resources and support.” Project Jason serves families of the missing nationwide and has been instrumental in the recent passage of missing persons' legislation in several states through their Campaign for the Missing program.

To learn more about Project Jason, please see http://www.projectjason.org, or contact Kelly Jolkowski at 402-932-0095 or kelly.jolkowski(at sign)projectjason.org

About Cue Center:

Founded in 1994, the Cue Center, (Community United Effort) based in Wilmington, N.C., provides support, services and search efforts to families of the missing. For full On the Road to Remember tour dates and locations, as well as a complete listing of cases featured on the tour, e-mail cuecenter@aol.com or call Monica Caison at (910) 343-1131 or the 24 Hour Line at (910) 232-1687.

For more information, please see http://ncmissingpersons.org/
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