by Mark Gado
“No,” Jamelske said to interviewers at MSNBC. “I don’t think I would because I was taking Viagra toward the end and it would have ended because I don’t have the physical urges I had before.”
www.crimescape.com
Chapter 15: After Justice
Jamelske’s ranch-style house located on Highbridge Road was sold in 2005 for $100,000 to a relative of one of the victims and a Syracuse attorney. The fearsome dungeons under the home were eventually dug up and destroyed. According to the plea agreement, Jamelske was required to pay for the demolition. The proceeds from the sale of the house were placed into a fund that was eventually distributed to the five victims. The bottle collection, which consisted of more than 13,000 pieces, was sold over the Internet in 2003 for only $500. It was purchased by a Pennsylvania collector, who considered it a bargain. “Overall for the money I paid for them, I think it was pretty much a steal,” he told a reporter from the Post Dispatch. Jamelske’s stocks and other investments were liquidated, and those proceeds were also added to the victim’s compensation fund. The property holdings in New Mexico, Florida and California were also sold, and the proceeds were eventually deposited into the victims’ compensation fund. The exact amount paid to the victims from the fund was not released to the public.
Clinton Correctional Facility, Dannemora, NY
Photo by Bubby1124
As for Jamelske, he was sent to Clinton Prison in upstate New York, where he remains to this day. He is scheduled for a parole hearing in 2020, when he will be 85 years old. Because of the nature of his crimes, he may not ever breathe free air again. According to his attorney, Michael Forsyth, Jamelske began to express remorse shortly after sentencing and acknowledged, somewhat reluctantly, that he had truly injured his innocent victims. He no longer believes that his punishment should be “community service or something of that nature.” The severity and finality of what amounts to a life sentence has apparently shattered Jamelske’s fantasy world and forced him to confront the reality of his crimes. However, this strange, sexually obsessed psychopath had a rather simplistic explanation for his actions.
“I’ve always said, you know, I’m unorthodox,” Jamelske once told a reporter. “I said to hundreds of people, I’m a little bit crazy, you know. I get a little crazy, you know what I mean?”
www.crimescape.com
Photo Credits/Index
All photographs, unless otherwise attributed, are police evidence courtesy of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
Victim’s Prayer
Crawlspace
DeWitt, NY Neighborhood
Skaneateles, NY
Jamelske Home
Shelves of Bottles in Basement
Basement Steps
Bedding in Dungeon
More Bottles in Basement
Jamelske Living Room
Neighborhood Around Jamelske’s Fenced Home
Jamelske’s Comet
Heavy Metal Gate to Dungeon
Jamelske Home on Highbridge Road
Plastic Skeleton
City of Syracuse Police Department
Graffiti in Dungeon
Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office
“Wall of Thugs” Graffiti
Tub and Toilet in Dungeon
Freddy’s Bar and Grill
John Jamelske
Entrance to Jamelske Home
Tub in Dungeon
Jamelske’s 1975 Comet
Dr. Robert D. Keppel
Sheriff Kevin Walsh
Jamelske’s Hallway Closet
Jamelske’s Locked Basement Window
John Jamelske
Onondaga County Courthouse
Clinton Correctional Facility, Dannemora, NY
Sources
Douglas, John. Journey into Darkness. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1997.
The Empire State Sheriff, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2003.
Fish, Mike. “Chamber of Horrors.”The Post-Standard 4 May 2003.
Fish, Mike. “Jamelske Bottles Sold.” The Post-Standard 23 July 2003.
Fish, Mike, and Jim Read. “Concrete Bunker Is 3 Feet Below Ground.” The Post-Standard 10 April 2003.
Jacobs, Andrew. “Man Gets 18 Years to Life for Holding Women Captive.” The New York Times 16 July 2003.
Keppel, Robert, PhD. Signature Killers. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1997.
Larry King Live,” Twisted Millionaire’s Victims Speak Out,” August 27, 2004. CNN.
McAndrew, Mike. “Town Cited Jamelske for Junk; DeWitt Officials Visited While Victims Were Held, But Didn’t Know of Buried Bunker.” The Post-Standard 14 June 2003.
McAndrew, Mike, and Mike Fish. “John T. Jamelske: The Unfolding Story.” The Post-Standard 18 May 2003.
McGurk, Joe. “I Wept in Evil Sicko’s Lair as I Saw My Family Hunt for My Body.” New York Post 16 June 2003.
McGurk, Joe. “Dungeon Monster Gets Life.” New York Post 16 July 2003.
MSNBC interview with John Jamelske, Verdict With Dan Abrams Show, May 1, 2008.
O’Hara, Jim. “Jamelske Interview Left Man Questions; Prosecutor Said Kidnapper Claimed Time in Dungeon Was Based on ‘Payments.’”The Post-Standard 13 June 2003.
O’Hara, Jim. “Face to Face for Six Hours.” The Post-Standard 16 July 2003.
O’Hara, Jim. “Jamelske Gets 18 to Life: ‘Reign of Terror is Over; Judge: You Should Die in Prison!’” The Post-Standard 17 July 2003.
Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) reports # 01-207410, # 03-204840, # 03-211074, # 95-047680, # 88-91286.
Search warrant affidavit, County of Onondaga, Town of DeWitt, dated April 9, 2003, signed by Honorable David S. Gideon, Town of DeWitt Justice.
Syracuse Police Department, report # 75-27677.
Acknowledgements
The names, descriptions and backgrounds of the victims and others have been altered to protect their identities. Some details, dates and locations have also been intentionally changed. Though at least two of the victims chose to appear on television talk shows for interviews, this book will not reveal their names. John Jamelske, currently serving an 18 years-to-life sentence at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, New York, did not respond to the author’s request for an interview. I wish to thank Captain Richard Woolley of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office for his time and assistance in the preparation of Kiss the Girls Goodnight and Sergeant Jack Schmidt for his thoughts and observations on the Jamelske case in previous interviews.
About the Author
Former Detective Mark Gado’s 29 years with the City of New Rochelle Police Department in New York and two years as a federal agent on a Drug Enforcement Administration task force gives him a perspective that few other true-crime writers have. During his DEA assignment, he received the International Award of Honor in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was also named Investigator of the Year in 2000 and received dozens of other awards and commendations during his long police career.
His first book, Killer Priest: The Crimes, Trial, and Execution of Father Hans Schmid, was published by Praeger in March, 2006. Killer Priest is the true story of the only Catholic priest in American history to be executed for murder. His second book, Death Row Women: Murder, Justice, and the New York Press, was published by Praeger in November, 2007.
As a writer for more than 20 years, his work has appeared on numerous websites and in many publications, including Time Warner’s Crime Library, Law Enforcement Journal, Cobblestone, Vietnam Express, Strange Days magazine, Correction History, Rochester Magazine, and Famous American Crimes and Trials Encyclopedia (2004). His story about serial killer Carl Panzram, “Carl Panzram, Monster of Minnesota” (2004), won a Page One award for one of the top three magazine articles of the year. Gado has a BA in Criminal Justice and an MS in Criminal Justice from Iona College.
Like many of his law-enforcement colleagues, Detective Gado joined the rescue effort at Ground Zero immediately after September 11, 2001. He is also a U.S. Army combat veteran of Vietnam, 1967-1968.
Mark Gado, Kiss The Girls Goodnight