**Information is obtained from the Where are they? Podcast and other online sources as cited**
In 2001, Jason Jolkowski was a hardworking 19-year old, living in Omaha, Nebraska. He had taken the spring semester off of college to work and save money, and he was doing just that- working at a local Fazoli’s fast food restaurant and was preparing to start a job at SITEL.
Jason wasn’t 100% what he wanted to do yet with his life, but was strongly considering going to seminary school and joining the priesthood.
Jason was a quiet and shy kid, with just a few friends. He had a learning disability, which would cause him to have trouble concentrating and focusing. Jason was also so shy, he was known to have trouble making eye contact with anyone he was speaking to. However, Jason also was very intelligent, having a higher than average I.Q., and was a very responsible and kind young man.
On June 13, 2001, Jason was called into work early.
He left the house that morning to meet his co-worker who was going to be picking him up.
Jason was never seen or heard from again.
Where is Jason Jolkowski?
Jason Jolkowski was born in Grand Island, Nebraska on June 24, 1981. The family would later move to Omaha, Nebraska, and lived a pretty typical suburban lifestyle. The parents, Kelly and Jim, were wonderful, doting parents to Jason and his younger brother, Michael.
Jason would have some learning disabilities and was often seen as awkward and shy. Kelly, during an interview a couple of years ago on the Unfound Podcast, said that he had sensory and motor skill trouble and would often become overwhelmed in noisy settings or anytime there was just a lot going on.
Jason however, was super intelligent, and at age 18, he began going to college. As part of his college program, he had a part-time job as a DJ at the college radio station, The River.
It’s interesting since he was so shy in person, he seemed to excel at being a DJ. Reading through some online forums, there are many comments of people who remember listening to him on the radio, with many saying he was their favorite DJ on that station.
Jason wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do, however. One of his dreams was to become a sports broadcaster, as he loved followings sports and being on the radio. But he had recently begun to consider attending a seminary school, and he was specifically looking at one in St. Louis, Missouri.
When his fall semester ended, however, Jason didn’t have the money to continue on for the spring semester, so he decided to take the time off of school and work to save up some money.
He was working at a Fazoli’s fast-food restaurant in Omaha, specifically the one on Cass Street, and was known to be a hard worker. Jason was really excited however because he was soon starting a new job at SITEL, where his uncle worked. He had gone so far as to have the job all lined up and was scheduled to start within the next week or two. Jason was thrilled as he’d not only be making more money, but SITEL had a tuition program that Jason could utilize to help pay for college.
On the morning of June 13, 2001, a Wednesday, Jason’s boss called to see if he could come into work early. He was scheduled to work that day already- but until 5:30 p.m. Of course, Jason said sure, but his car was in the shop and he would need to walk there. This wasn’t too out of the ordinary for Jason. His family said he walked everywhere and the restaurant was about 4 miles from his home.
The manager told him that he would send a co-worker to go pick up him, and Jason agreed but said he’d meet them at the High School nearby, as he was terrible at giving out directions to this house.
The Jolkowski’s lived in a suburban neighborhood in Omaha, and the walk to the school was about half a mile. This walk normally took Jason about 15 minutes.
Around 10:45 a.m., Jason walked out of the home, his red work shirt in his hands, and saw his brother Michael bringing in the trash cans. Jason helped Michael and then left for the school. Michael saw Jason walk off, and a neighbor who was also home would later confirm that he witnessed that as well.
At 11:15 a.m., the female co-worker sent to pick Jason up called her manager at the restaurant. She said Jason wasn’t there, and the manager told her to wait a few more minutes then just come to work. The manager called Jason’s house and spoke to Michael, who just said that Jason was ‘at work’.
No one realized anything was wrong, until Jason’s dad, Jim, arrived home from work at 5:00 p.m. He hadn’t realized Jason was called in early, and he was expecting to drive him to work since his car was in the shop. Michael however told his dad that Jason was not home and that his work was looking for him.
Jim started to look for Jason himself and called his wife to let her know that he couldn’t find him. Kelly immediately left work and went home to help look for her son.
Jason’s mom, Kelly, said she was told to wait 24 hours before she could officially report Jason missing, but even then, police took 10 days before beginning to search.
Of course, at age 19, Jason is an adult, and authorities definitely have a different approach to searching for missing adults, especially at first. I mean, as an adult, we all have the right to disappear.
However, the family knows that Jason did not just disappear. There is no reason for him to, it just doesn’t make sense.
The investigation begins slowly. Police do start canvassing the area and speaking to people in that neighborhood, but no one saw Jason at all except the one neighbor who did see him help his brother with the trash cans and head off walking towards the school.
Authorities questioned Jason’s co-worker at Fazoli’s, the one that was to pick him up that day, and she is cleared. They also questioned the manager of the restaurant, who is also cleared.
They check with the school also, for surveillance footage, and while they did have a good amount of surveillance footage around the entire school, Jason is never seen on camera there at all.
This leads investigators to believe that Jason disappeared sometime between 10:45–11:15 and that he never actually made it the half-mile to the school.
Jason had very few friends, and police start calling anyone that he knew or considered a friend or acquaintance. Every person they spoke to said they didn’t talk to Jason regularly and in fact, hadn’t talked to him in a couple of months before he even vanished.
Police are baffled.
Jason has no history of drugs or alcohol, has no criminal activity, wasn’t very social and pretty much just stayed home with family, went to church, and work.
Police did pull a list of registered sex offenders residing within and around their neighborhood, and one, in particular, lived just across their street. This person was questioned and their house was searched, but nothing was found to tie him to Jason Jolkowski.
There was also a neighbor that lived a block over that some people have pointed fingers at. This man, a gay man, 31-years old, moved out of the area shortly after Jason disappeared. I can’t find exactly why, but some people have questioned his motives as well. But I literally found no connection to this man and Jason, at least that’s been made public, so I don’t know where that conjecture is coming from, or even if there is any validity to it.
A possible sighting would come from someone who thought they saw Jason at the Mahoney State Park. The park is about 30 miles southwest of Omaha, and we don’t know much about that sighting. For example, I’d like to know- was this person alone? What were they doing? How were they acting?
Ultimately, police were not able to confirm the sighting was Jason, and it was very possibly just a false lead.
About a month after Jason disappeared, another 19-year old young man from Omaha also seemed to vanish into thin air. Samuel Sherman lived just a block from where Jason lived. There are so many uncanny similarities- except for the fact that Samuel has virtually zero information on him out there. In fact, many people have wondered if he is a real person. He does have a missing person profile, but there are no photos. We only have a description of him being a caucasian male, blonde hair, and blue-eyed.
What is reported, as they were last seen leaving his home, in the middle of the day, to head to a job interview. Just as Jason left his house, in broad daylight, for work. They were both 19, and they disappeared just one month apart from the same neighborhood.
Super weird.
While so many people believe these two cases have to be related, some believe this Samuel was just a drifter with no family ties, and just left the area.
Someone from the online forum Webslueths did reach out to obtain the police report and file on Samuel Sherman, but a detective responded stating that they believed a lot of what they did have was inaccurate.
This just seems really bizarre to me. These two cases with so much in common and a missing person with little to no information AND law enforcement believes their info is incorrect?
There’s a lot that comes out of Jason’s disappearance, but before we talk about that, let’s look at the theories.
Theory #1.
Jason met up with someone that morning. Something that was pre-planned. Jason didn’t know he was going to get called into work early that day, maybe had had plans with someone nearby that no one else knew about, and he intended to go by and let them know he now had to go to work.
This would be someone that his family is unaware of, and law enforcement, because there is no evidence he even had any current friends he was talking to.
But it wouldn’t be the first time someone had a secret.
Theory #2.
Jason was taken by someone. This theory is as believable, as it is unbelievable.
For instance, Jason was an introvert. He was also 6’1 and weighed around 165 pounds. It was broad daylight. Was someone supposed to drive up to him, in this suburban neighborhood and just grab him? Seems unlikely.
But what if he knew this person? Even if just in passing. Someone like a neighbor?
Could they have called him over to their car, or even to their front door?
What if he knew this person and they were able to convince him to get in the car, maybe saying they would drop him off at the school?
I don’t think he would willingly get into the car of a stranger.
Jason was also known to be a helper. Anytime someone needed help, he couldn’t say no. What if a neighbor lured him to their house asking for help, and Jason figured, why not? Especially if it might just take a minute.
I definitely think I lean more towards this happening than the fact that Jason had some secret life going on.
And while it was broad daylight, it was also almost mid-day on a weekday. Most people were probably at work, and that would explain the lack of witnesses.
Theory #3.
This one is a controversial one- but we are going to talk about it anyway, and that is Jason’s involvement with the church.
The catholic church is no stranger to controversy and trouble, and in this case, there is absolutely no evidence pointing to the church- of course, there is no evidence pointing anywhere- but it’s a theory that has come up.
Jason attended the Holy Name Catholic Church, which was about a mile from his house. Jason was very involved in the church and often did volunteer prayer duties there. Jason was originally supposed to be off that day, at least until 5:30, perhaps his original plans were to go to church. Could he have decided to walk to the church first, let them know of his change of plans, before heading over to the high school?
This is a question that a lot of people have asked.
But, if that’s the case, he wouldn’t have had any extra time to spare. He was supposed to be meeting his co-worker in 15 minutes, and the walk directly from his house to the school was almost exactly 15 minutes.
Also, if he needed to cancel, or let someone at the church know, was there no way to call them and let them know instead of walking all the way there?
The other part of this theory is, was be possibly being groomed by someone at the church. We see this in a lot of human trafficking cases, or even a lot with sexual predators. Jason didn’t have much contact with anyone else in his life, if someone was grooming him, it is quite possible there is a connection with his church.
This also makes me wonder if this was true- and I’m working on hypotheticals here- was that part of his reason for wanting to pursue a career with the church and attend seminary school in St. Louis? Had someone roped him in, under the pretense that they were all about the church, and Jason’s goals started to shift?
If I remember correctly, his original goal was to become a sports broadcaster.
I don’t know if anyone could be involved from the church, and I would hope since police have said they questioned everyone that knew Jason, that included people at the church also.
I also have some questions, that might lead to more theories or even rule one out if only we had answers.
#1. Was it in anyway unusual that Jason was not wearing his work shirt, but carrying it instead? For instance, why change when he got to work instead of just changing at the house before he left? Unless it was maybe super hot that day, and he didn’t want to get sweaty. But otherwise, It was only a 15-minute walk, and I’d think just wearing the shirt would be easier.
#2. Were Jason’s electronics searched, the ones he had access to? Any home computers, for instance? Was there any unusual activity?
#3. What were Jason’s original plans for that day? Did he have any? Maybe he didn’t- but he wasn’t supposed to be at work until 5:30, that is until he was called in early. Did he have any other plans that might have involved someone else?
Jason’s disappearances did bring out some positive changes.
In 2005, Jason’s parents, Kelly and Jim, lobbied for change and Jason’s Law was put into place.
The state is developing a clearinghouse that will keep track of all the missing-person cases. It will also start a toll-free hotline and Web site. The initiative was inspired by a missing Omaha teenager. The idea is to give missing persons a better chance to be found.
Kelly also formed a non-profit, called Project Jason. The goal was to help families that are coping with missing loved ones. The non-profit was disbanded in 2018.
Jason Jolksowki was last seen in June 2001. He is described as a caucasian male, 6’1” tall, and weighing 165 pounds. He was wearing a Chicago Cubs shirt, hat, and black pants, and carrying his red Fazoli’s work shirt.
Jason is described also as having learning disabilities related to speech and language. The disabilities may make him appear to be mildly mentally disabled, but he is actually of above-average intelligence.
Jason left behind all his personal belongings, his car was still in the repair shop, and he possibly had his wallet with approximately $50-$60 in it.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Jason Jolkwoski, Please contact the Omaha Police Department at 402–444–5657.
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