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CNN Live Today

Interview With Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh

Aired April 29, 2003 - 11:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now we turn to the tales of torture from women who say that they were imprisoned in a dungeon and held as sex slaves. Another alleged victim has come forward, and authorities say that there may be others out there. The suspect is a retired handyman in up-state New York, right now being held without bail.
Details now on this report from CNN's Jamie Colby.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is John Jamelske, a 67-year-old retired handyman who police say is a serial rapist with a torture chamber under his house, where he kept his victims for periods ranging from two months to two years.

So far, Jamelske has been charged with kidnapping and raping only his latest alleged victim, a 16-year-old whose escape three weeks ago led to Jamelske's arrest. In a statement to the county sheriff, the teenager said...

KEVIN WALSH, ONONDAGA COUNTY SHERIFF: "I cried and I prayed every day of captivity. I never cried in front of him again after he slapped me so hard he injured my ear." She's still deaf in that ear. "I did everything he asked, hoping that he would release me."

COLBY: Two other teenagers and a woman in her mid-20s claimed Jamelske held them, too. And Monday, police said they've identified a fifth alleged victim, a woman in her 50s who claimed she was held for 10 months.

WALSH: She was raped and tortured in his dungeon, her phrase. And that occurred about five years ago.

COLBY: This woman, now 28, held two years ago, told her story to CNN affiliate WSTM.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt -- basically felt like an animal just rotting away, like some sex animal for his pleasure.

COLBY: The women told police they were forced to keep diaries of their physical activity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was supposed to have sex with him every day. And if I didn't have sex with him every day, then that would add on to the time that I was going to be there.

COLBY: In a statement obtained by CNN, Jamelske told police his relationship with the 16-year-old was consensual and -- quote -- "fun," and that he thought she was 18. "We are also planning on going to my 50th high school reunion together. I can't wait. Everyone's going to be like: 'Wow, John, look at you two. That's great.' I have no intentions of marrying her. I'm just going to have as much fun as I can. If it only last two or three years, that's fine."

As police piece together the five tales of torture, they are asking any other women who say they were victims of Jamelske to come forward.

(on camera): Two of the alleged victims filed police reports after their ordeal. Investigators admit they were never fully pursued. Jamelske is being held without bail. His attorney tells CNN he will ask a judge for his client to submit to a psychiatric evaluation.

Jamie Colby, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We want to get more now on the case and the search for other possible victims. Joining us from Syracuse this morning is Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh. Sheriff Walsh, thank you for taking time to talk with us about this this morning. The first question that comes to mind is, whatever happened with the reports that were filed by the two women in this man's past, and why wasn't more done about them?

KEVIN WALSH, SHERIFF, ONONDAGA COUNTY: Well, at the time we began the investigations of the one victim that had reported it to us, we ran into a stone wall. We gathered all the information that she had to give us, but she really had no idea of the location where she was held. She didn't -- wasn't able to elaborate and tell us anything that would lead us back to the direction of the victim. And at the same time, he had done some things that put her in a position where there was contradictory information about her story, which really led the investigators to a point where they had to say, we've got to close this case. We're going nowhere with it.

HARRIS: What about these women? Can you tell us anything about how they were actually captured by this man? Were these women -- were they vagrants? Were they traveling alone? Do you know any more about that at all?

WALSH: Well, there were a number of different things that he did, not the least of which was to pick on women who were in some circumstances vulnerable. Some of the younger women because of a runaway situation. At least one that he just grabbed and dragged off the street. Another where the woman was walking in the rain, and he approached her and offered her a ride, and she felt he was an older man. He was probably harmless. She was in a tough neighborhood in the city, and felt she would be safe getting in the car with him.

HARRIS: We just heard in this report, in Jamie Colby's report, we heard one of the ladies there talking about being forced to keep a journal. Did you find any more of these journals? WALSH: Well, what we found were some notations that had been made, and we have those as evidence. And obviously we're not going to talk too much about those.

HARRIS: Yes, I understand that. But can you tell us how many of them you have found?

WALSH: We have found enough documentation to support the stories of the -- that the women had told us.

HARRIS: And enough to believe that there may be more women out there?

WALSH: Well, what we believe is that there may very possibly be more women out there, and that's why we've shown his picture after two weeks, and are asking people if they have any information, no matter how trivial they may feel it is, to give us a call and let us know so that we can follow up on it, and see if there are more victims, and get them the kind of services that they really need. And also, to make this one more piece of evidence that will make our case very solid.

HARRIS: I can't believe -- it would be hard for me to believe that someone could be locked up in a torture chamber for a long period of time and then not go tell someone later on. Not go tell the police. Any idea why that may have happened with other women?

WALSH: We had a couple of the younger women who had had threats made against not only them, if they were to report it, but also their families, and there was serious concern on their part that he would come back and either recapture them or take one of their siblings. And for those reasons, several of them never reported it, and that's why we feel there may be others that didn't report anything.

HARRIS: Well, here's hoping that you come up with some good solutions here and resolutions in this particular case, or cases. Pretty ugly stuff there. Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh, good luck. Thank you.

WALSH: Thank you, Leon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 29, 2003 - 11:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now we turn to the tales of torture from women who say that they were imprisoned in a dungeon and held as sex slaves. Another alleged victim has come forward, and authorities say that there may be others out there. The suspect is a retired handyman in up-state New York, right now being held without bail.
Details now on this report from CNN's Jamie Colby.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is John Jamelske, a 67-year-old retired handyman who police say is a serial rapist with a torture chamber under his house, where he kept his victims for periods ranging from two months to two years.

So far, Jamelske has been charged with kidnapping and raping only his latest alleged victim, a 16-year-old whose escape three weeks ago led to Jamelske's arrest. In a statement to the county sheriff, the teenager said...

KEVIN WALSH, ONONDAGA COUNTY SHERIFF: "I cried and I prayed every day of captivity. I never cried in front of him again after he slapped me so hard he injured my ear." She's still deaf in that ear. "I did everything he asked, hoping that he would release me."

COLBY: Two other teenagers and a woman in her mid-20s claimed Jamelske held them, too. And Monday, police said they've identified a fifth alleged victim, a woman in her 50s who claimed she was held for 10 months.

WALSH: She was raped and tortured in his dungeon, her phrase. And that occurred about five years ago.

COLBY: This woman, now 28, held two years ago, told her story to CNN affiliate WSTM.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt -- basically felt like an animal just rotting away, like some sex animal for his pleasure.

COLBY: The women told police they were forced to keep diaries of their physical activity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was supposed to have sex with him every day. And if I didn't have sex with him every day, then that would add on to the time that I was going to be there.

COLBY: In a statement obtained by CNN, Jamelske told police his relationship with the 16-year-old was consensual and -- quote -- "fun," and that he thought she was 18. "We are also planning on going to my 50th high school reunion together. I can't wait. Everyone's going to be like: 'Wow, John, look at you two. That's great.' I have no intentions of marrying her. I'm just going to have as much fun as I can. If it only last two or three years, that's fine."

As police piece together the five tales of torture, they are asking any other women who say they were victims of Jamelske to come forward.

(on camera): Two of the alleged victims filed police reports after their ordeal. Investigators admit they were never fully pursued. Jamelske is being held without bail. His attorney tells CNN he will ask a judge for his client to submit to a psychiatric evaluation.

Jamie Colby, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We want to get more now on the case and the search for other possible victims. Joining us from Syracuse this morning is Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh. Sheriff Walsh, thank you for taking time to talk with us about this this morning. The first question that comes to mind is, whatever happened with the reports that were filed by the two women in this man's past, and why wasn't more done about them?

KEVIN WALSH, SHERIFF, ONONDAGA COUNTY: Well, at the time we began the investigations of the one victim that had reported it to us, we ran into a stone wall. We gathered all the information that she had to give us, but she really had no idea of the location where she was held. She didn't -- wasn't able to elaborate and tell us anything that would lead us back to the direction of the victim. And at the same time, he had done some things that put her in a position where there was contradictory information about her story, which really led the investigators to a point where they had to say, we've got to close this case. We're going nowhere with it.

HARRIS: What about these women? Can you tell us anything about how they were actually captured by this man? Were these women -- were they vagrants? Were they traveling alone? Do you know any more about that at all?

WALSH: Well, there were a number of different things that he did, not the least of which was to pick on women who were in some circumstances vulnerable. Some of the younger women because of a runaway situation. At least one that he just grabbed and dragged off the street. Another where the woman was walking in the rain, and he approached her and offered her a ride, and she felt he was an older man. He was probably harmless. She was in a tough neighborhood in the city, and felt she would be safe getting in the car with him.

HARRIS: We just heard in this report, in Jamie Colby's report, we heard one of the ladies there talking about being forced to keep a journal. Did you find any more of these journals? WALSH: Well, what we found were some notations that had been made, and we have those as evidence. And obviously we're not going to talk too much about those.

HARRIS: Yes, I understand that. But can you tell us how many of them you have found?

WALSH: We have found enough documentation to support the stories of the -- that the women had told us.

HARRIS: And enough to believe that there may be more women out there?

WALSH: Well, what we believe is that there may very possibly be more women out there, and that's why we've shown his picture after two weeks, and are asking people if they have any information, no matter how trivial they may feel it is, to give us a call and let us know so that we can follow up on it, and see if there are more victims, and get them the kind of services that they really need. And also, to make this one more piece of evidence that will make our case very solid.

HARRIS: I can't believe -- it would be hard for me to believe that someone could be locked up in a torture chamber for a long period of time and then not go tell someone later on. Not go tell the police. Any idea why that may have happened with other women?

WALSH: We had a couple of the younger women who had had threats made against not only them, if they were to report it, but also their families, and there was serious concern on their part that he would come back and either recapture them or take one of their siblings. And for those reasons, several of them never reported it, and that's why we feel there may be others that didn't report anything.

HARRIS: Well, here's hoping that you come up with some good solutions here and resolutions in this particular case, or cases. Pretty ugly stuff there. Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh, good luck. Thank you.

WALSH: Thank you, Leon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com