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1 Year Later - Wisconsin Teen James Yoblonski Still Missing · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Ever get that feeling, you know, that feeling where like
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  the most normal night just kind of twists and turns
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  into something really strange and unsettling.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, that's.
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  Speaker 1: What we're looking at today, the case of Jane Joblonski. Yeah,
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  a Wisconsin teenager who disappears right after a totally normal evening.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's what makes it so baffling. Right, Yes,
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  we've got security footage from his house. Okay, we've got
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  you know, the investigative reports, we've got his own father's
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  plea right trying to figure out what happened, And it's
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  almost like trying to solve one of those jigsaw puzzles
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  where like half the pieces are missing totally.
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  Speaker 1: So let's just start with what we know then, Okay.
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  June twelfth, twenty twenty three, It's just another summer night,
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  small town Wisconsin. James is at home with family, They're
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  having a movie night.
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  Speaker 2: Just sounds pretty normal.
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  Speaker 1: Totally normal, right, Like, nothing seems off.
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  Speaker 2: Except for the fact that later that night, the security
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  cameras at the Oblonski's home pick something up. Around one am,
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  James is seen leaving his bedroom. He's got a backpack,
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  which fair enough right, but then there's two more bags, okay,
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  and that for me, that's already a little bit of
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  a red flag.
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  Speaker 1: So already it seems like more than just like sneaking
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  out to get a burger or something, right, Like, what
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  are you thinking when you see those bags?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it just it suggests there's a plan. Yeah, like
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  he's thought this through a little bit, yeah, which you
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  know teenagers can do, but it's not necessarily screaming like
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  impulsive teenager to me. Okay, but it gets weirder okay.
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  He then gets into the family van. Really the family
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  van not exactly subtle.
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  Speaker 1: Not exactly the most inconspicuous, yeah, right, for a teenager
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  who's trying to maybe disappear.
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  Speaker 2: It's like he wants to be seen, or he wants
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  to take specific things with him, right right, Like my
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  brain is doing backflips trying to put myself in his shoes.
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  Speaker 1: It does make you wonder like was there an attempt
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  to be discreet yeah, or was it just he needed
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  the van for some reason? Yeah? And then it raises
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  that question of like, well, what's in the bags? Like
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  what are you packing for?
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  Speaker 2: It's the goal here?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, and this is where you know, getting into
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  the mindset of James is going to be kind of
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  the key to unlocking this.
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  Speaker 2: And to add to all of this, James's dad, Bill Yablonski,
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  he said, everything seemed totally normal earlier that night, just
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  a regular family movie night. They're all hanging out, and
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  then nothing. Yeah, and this is where the security footage
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  gets even more unsettling because we actually here Bill realize
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  that James is gone.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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  Speaker 2: And it's the panic in his voice when he realizes
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  that the van is gone too. Oh gosh, it's chilling.
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  Speaker 1: Can we hear that? Can we play that for the listener? Yeah,
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  let them hear this moment definitely where reality sets in.
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  Speaker 2: Bill's voice shouting, James is gone, He's got my phone.
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  Speaker 1: I mean that moment. Yeah, every parent's worst nightmare. Yeah,
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  to realize your child is gone and you have no idea.
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  Speaker 2: And you don't know where they've gone.
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  Speaker 1: You don't know where they went. Now, you don't know why,
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  he don't know how.
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  Speaker 2: It speaks to the chaos of it. Yeah, the missing phone,
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  the van, it's like he just vanished.
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  Speaker 1: So the police obviously get brought in. Of course, what
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  are they able to put together?
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  Speaker 2: So using the security footage from the Yublonski home and
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  other businesses in the area. They're able to kind of
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  track James's movements throughout the night. Okay, And this is
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  where it gets even more perplexing me. So we know
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  that he drives throughout the night, right, Okay, he makes
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  multiple stops at his dad's business in Wisconsin.
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  Speaker 1: Dell's his dad's business.
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  Speaker 2: Is dad's business in the middle of the night, in
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  the middle of the night.
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  Speaker 1: What could he be doing?
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  Speaker 2: And this is where it gets really murky. Yeah, and
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  this is a point of major interest to investigators.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, like, was he looking for something? Was he meeting someone?
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  Was he trying to send a message? Like what's what
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  is the goal? Yeah, we don't know.
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  Speaker 2: We just don't know, Okay. And then hours later, the
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  van is found abandoned a band and on the side
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  of a highway miles away from the business.
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  Speaker 1: So he ditched the van. Yeah, But if he was
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  running away, why not just keep driving?
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  Speaker 2: That's the million dollar question, isn't it. Yeah, you've got freedom,
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  you've got mobility. Yeah, why ditch it?
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  Speaker 1: Why would you leave that?
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  Speaker 2: And it doesn't stop there? Okay, About one hundred yards
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  from the van, investigators find something else, a makeshift campsite.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, he ditched a perfectly good vehicle, I know, to
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  rough it in the woods.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and not just any woods. We're talking dense woodland.
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  Oh gosh, the kind of place that's really easy to
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  get turned around in.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: So it's almost as if he's deliberately traded the open
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  road for a labyrinths.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got James, he's ditched this van and he's
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  seemingly vanished into the wilderness. I mean, what are investigators
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  thinking at this point?
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  Speaker 2: Well, at this stage, it's a lot more questions than answers, right,
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  I mean they're combing the campsite. They're looking for any
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  clue as to you know, his state of mind, right,
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  And what they find scattered around are his belongings, clothes, bags,
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  hygiene items. Okay, even Bill's missing cell phone.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, so the phone was there? The phone was there
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  at the campsite.
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  Speaker 2: Alongside the other things.
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  Speaker 1: Was that on purpose? Did the battery die? Was he
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  trying to disconnect but then changed his mind?
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  Speaker 2: I mean that's part of the mystery, isn't it. Because
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  it feels significant, right, like he chose to be cut
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  off or was forced to be cut off, and you
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  can imagine in twenty twenty three, teenagers don't willingly part
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  with their phones very often.
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  Speaker 1: Not really No, Okay, so the campsite again kind of
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  raises more questions. It doesn't really give us a lot
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  of answers. What about the search. I mean, this is
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  dense woodland. This isn't like an easy little.
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  Speaker 2: High No, the terrain was difficult and despite an extensive search,
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  you know, canine units, helicopters, drones, the works.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, they brought it all out, they really did.
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  Speaker 2: They found no other trace of James. Wow, no footprints,
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  no signs of a struggle, nothing.
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  Speaker 1: It's like you vanished.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the unsettling feeling that kind of permeates this
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  entire case, doesn't it. It's one thing to run away,
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  to choose to disappear, but to just vanish without a
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  trace and leave all these questions unanswered, that's what makes
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  it so perplexing.
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  Speaker 1: And heartbreaking too. I can only imagine what James's family
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  was going through during those days, those agonizing days of searching.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely so. As the days turn into weeks and still
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  there's no sign of James, investigators start to explore other possibilities.
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  They dig a little deeper into his life, so we're
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  talking online activity, phone records, social media, looking for any
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  indication of where he might have gone, who he might
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  been in contact with, what could have led up to this.
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  Speaker 1: So it becomes a digital man hunt in a way.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly what do they find? So they learn that James
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  was a fan of survivalist forums and videos. Okay, he
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  even owned several books on the subjects, some of which
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  were missing from his room.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got the campsite, we've got this rugged terrain,
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  we've got the missing survival books. Is it possible that
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  he was trying to go off the grid on purpose?
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  Speaker 2: It's a theory investigators considered, especially given his interest in survivalism.
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  But you know, even the most experienced survivalists they plan
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  meticulously for that sort of thing. They've got supplies, they've
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  got maps, they've got a way to communicate in case
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  of emergencies. James's actions, though, they just seemed hasty, almost desperate.
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  Speaker 1: Almost like he was running from something or towards something
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  but hadn't really saw it.
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  Speaker 2: Through right exactly that. And then there's the video.
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  Speaker 1: The video, Yeah, yeah, this is where this is where
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  things get really strange for those who aren't familiar. Before
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  his disappearance, James posted a video online. What can you
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  tell us about it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the video is brief, but it's incredibly unsettling. James
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  appears to be alone, and his demeanor is off. Haff
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  how he seems agitated, nervous, almost gared. His words are jumbled, confusing.
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  Speaker 1: Like he's trying to get something out but he can't.
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  Speaker 2: Go wite, He's not quite sure how yeah, yeah, and
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  then he says this really chilling line. He says, it's
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  not their fault, it's no one's fault, it's my fault.
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  He even mentions that something happened to his brain. It's
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  like he's trying to tell us something, but it's shrouded
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  in fear and confusion.
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  Speaker 1: I remember watching that when it first came out, and
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  you can't shake the feeling that something is wrong, no,
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  deeply wrong.
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  Speaker 2: And it's a key piece of evidence in this case.
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  Was James speaking literally figuratively? Was he forced to make
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  the video? Was he trying to send some kind of
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  coded message. These are all questions that continue to haunt investigators.
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  And you know, Bill James's father, he's desperate for answers.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, through all of this, Bill's perspective has
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  been really powerful. Yeah. From day one, he has not waivered.
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  He has been so adamant that James would not just
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  run away, that something else is going on here, and.
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  Speaker 2: That unwavering belief has really fueled his search for James,
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  because he's convinced that James was coerced into leaving, that
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  the video was a cry for help.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he even took a polygraph test right to
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  prove he wasn't involved in James's disappearance at all. He
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  did and he passed. Yeah. I mean, his father is
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  going to extraordinary lengths to try to bring his son.
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  Speaker 2: Home, absolutely, and you really feel for him. He is
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  clinging to that hope, to that possibility that somebody somewhere
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  knows something, anything that could help bring him home.
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  Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And you can hear it when he does these
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  pleas for information.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can.
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  Speaker 2: Hear that weight of grief. Yeah, desperation.
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  Speaker 1: It's been seven months. I know there's still no sign
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  of James, no new leads, no real breakthroughs. What are
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  investigators saying at this stage.
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  Speaker 2: Well, officially, the case remains open. Okay, but you have
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  to admit the trail has gone cold. They haven't found
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  any concrete evidence of foul play, but even they admit
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  that the circumstances are incredibly unusual.
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  Speaker 3: It's just such a bizarre it's bizarre, like every little detail,
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  the bags, the van, the campsite, the video, the survival books,
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  it's just a giant question mark.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what makes it so difficult because there's no
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  clear motive, there's no obvious explanation. It's like trying to
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  put together a puzzle and the pieces they could fit
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  together in so many different ways, but no matter how
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  you put them together, the picture's still unclear.
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  Speaker 1: So where does that leave us? I mean, we don't
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  have any answers. Do we know? We have a family
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  who is just shattered, absolutely, and a community that's just
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  holding its breath.
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  Speaker 2: And that's why we're sharing the story because sometimes the
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  best thing we have in these situations is just collective awareness. Yeah,
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  because somebody somewhere might hold that last piece of the puzzle,
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  that one little detail that could bring James home.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it's someone who saw him that night, maybe someone
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  who you know, there was something familiar in that video
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  and they just or.
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  Speaker 2: They have that piece of information, if they don't even
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  realize it's important.
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  Speaker 1: Right exactly, that could be the key. Yes, So to
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  our listener, if you know anything anything at all about
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  James's disappearance, don't stay silent. Please contact the Saut County
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  Sheriff's Office. Every tip, every.
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  Speaker 2: Leave, everything helps.
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  Speaker 1: It could make a world a difference.
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  Speaker 2: And just as you go about your day, just keep
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  James and his family and your thoughts. Yes, let's hope
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  that by just keeping this story alive and keeping that
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  conversation going, we can bring James home.
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  Speaker 1: This case, man, I don't know. It just really makes
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  you think if you were in a position where you
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  needed to send a message or a desperate plea for help,
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  how would you do it? What would you leave behind?
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  It's kind of a haunting thought.
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  Speaker 2: It is.
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  Speaker 1: It is