On June 13th, 2001, 19-year-old Jason Jolkowski was walking to the local high school to meet a coworker, but he never made it there.

Jason Jolkowski was born on June 24, 1981 in Grand Island, Nebraska, USA. He had been a part-time student at Iowa Western Community College but had to leave due to financial issues.

Jason got a job working at a restaurant near his home in Omaha, Nebraska, called Fazoli’s. He had plans to go back to school.

On June 13, 2001, Jason had been asked to go into work early. His car was in the garage being fixed so he called a coworker to ask for a lift. She agreed and they made a plan to meet at Benson High School, about half a mile away from Jason’s home, before they would drive to the restaurant.

At approximately 10:45 am, a neighbour, Chester Link, saw Jason helping his brother take the garbage cans back to the house, before setting off in the direction of the school.

Between 11:15 – 11:30 am Jason’s coworker called his home to see if he was there as he hadn’t arrived to meet her yet, but he wasn’t at home.

Security camera footage from Benson High School confirmed that Jason Jolkowski never arrived there that day.

Jason’s parents didn’t report him missing until the next morning as they believed they needed to wait 24 hours before notifying the police. 

Though his family insisted otherwise, police believed Jason may have run away and because of this, delayed investigating his disappearance for 10 days.

Jason’s friend Amanda Goodman said:

“He loves his parents and his brother more than anything in the world. He’d be talking to me on the phone and he’d put me on hold so he could tuck his brother into bed. His family came first.”

On the day he went missing it is believed that Jason had just his mobile phone and $60 cash on him. 

There have been no additional sightings of Jason Jolkowski since he went missing, and no forensic evidence has ever been found to indicate what might have happened to him. His bank account and cellphone have not been used since.

According to the Omaha Police Department, the investigation is still open but there are no promising leads. His family believe he may have been lured into a vehicle.

Jason’s family said:

“Hope is your right until you know the truth… Some people try to take hope away from you. They think, well, you should be over that by now, you should be back to normal. Everyone deserves hope.”

In 2005, “Jason’s Law” was passed by the Nebraska Legislature which resulted in the creation of a statewide database of missing persons.

Sources:

https://medium.com/the-history-insider/what-happened-to-jason-jolkowski-a158e891c349

https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/992083/1

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/jason-jolkowski

https://discover.hubpages.com/politics/The-Bizarre-Disappearance-of-Jason-Jolkowski