Jason Jolkowski was 19 years old when he walked out of his Benson-area home on June 13, 2001, to meet a coworker who was supposed to drive him to work. He was last seen standing at the end of his driveway at 10:15 that morning. He never made it to the meeting spot at Benson High School, and twenty-five years later, his mother Kelly Murphy still does not know what happened to him.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, Murphy began researching missing people online just a couple of weeks after Jason disappeared, expecting that she and her family would soon find out what happened to him. A quarter-century later, that answer has never come. The coworker never saw him that morning, and per the Lincoln Journal Star, Jason never turned up on Benson High School's surveillance tapes either.
A Disappearance With No Trail
Whatever happened to Jason that morning, it left behind almost nothing to investigate. His credit cards, bank account and cellphone sat untouched, the Journal Star reports, while his car remained parked in the repair shop where he'd left it for hail damage, and his last paycheck went uncollected at work. He was scheduled to start a new, tuition-reimbursement job shortly after he vanished, according to the World-Herald.
Jason's family waited 24 hours before reporting him missing the following morning. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children later produced an age-progression image showing what Jolkowski might look like as an adult; KETV reported the image depicted him at age 39, while a poster from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children lists the age-progressed photo at 36. Jason was described as 6 feet 1 inch tall and 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, according to a 2009 CNN report. That same report noted police said they had no evidence of foul play, and described the case as remaining an open and active investigation.
The Teenager Behind the Case
Before he disappeared, Jason had learning disabilities that made processing and responding to language difficult, and he learned certain motor skills, including riding a bike and driving a car, more slowly than other kids his age, per the World-Herald's reporting. He attended Holy Name Catholic Church, where he read passages aloud before the congregation. He had enrolled in the radio broadcasting program at Iowa Western Community College and gone on the air at the River radio station, while also working part time at a Fazoli's restaurant at 80th and Cass streets in Omaha.
The World-Herald reports that Jason's case was one of five highlighted by the Omaha Police Department's Nebraska Missing Persons Day. A photograph of Jason at age 11 offers a glimpse of the childhood his mother has spent a quarter-century trying to reconcile with his absence.
Turning Grief Into Advocacy
Jason's family told the Journal Star it had never received a viable lead in his case. “We really, truly never have had viable leads,” the family said, according to the outlet, which also reported that to this day his disappearance remains a mystery. Murphy has described her grief as ambiguous loss, the World-Herald reports, and said she joined a support group of five mothers whose sons were around Jason's age and had gone missing for similar lengths of time — four of whom were later found deceased.
That uncertainty pushed Murphy to found Project Jason, which offered assistance to families of the missing, tracked cases, provided technical advice and created posters. According to CNN, the organization had distributed some 50,000 missing-persons fliers since 2003. Murphy also developed a teaching retreat for families of the missing before retiring from Project Jason in 2018.
Her advocacy extended into Nebraska law as well. According to the Catholic Voice Omaha, Murphy pushed for a state law establishing a statewide missing-persons database, known as Jason's Law.
Living Without Closure
Murphy has acknowledged she may never learn what actually happened to her son, the World-Herald reports, even as she continues to hope that she may someday get an answer. She has asked the public to come forward with any information about Jason or his disappearance.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Omaha Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at 402-444-5818, the department's front desk at 402-444-5600, or Omaha Crime Stoppers anonymously at 402-444-STOP, through its website or the P3 Tips mobile app.
