The Dungeon Master: The True Story of John Jamelske

John Thomas Jamelske was different from your average man. Born and raised in the small town of DeWitt, New York, he seemed like a regular guy. He graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1953 and married Dorothy Richmond, a schoolteacher with whom he had three sons. He worked at Acme Market and other grocery stores and, later, as a handyman and carpenter. But behind closed doors, John was hiding a dark secret.

Starting in October 1988, John began abducting young girls and women, holding them captive in a concrete bunker beneath the yard of his home. His first victim was a 14-year-old Native American girl whom he held captive for over two years. He compelled her to do his bidding by threatening violence against her younger brother. She did not attempt to report to authorities after John released her.

In either 1995 or 1996, John abducted a 14-year-old Latina runaway, luring her in with the promise of paying her to deliver a secret package. He closed the door behind her, trapping her in his bunker, which he called "the dungeon." He put a blindfold on her, drove her to her mother's apartment, and dropped her off. Although he also threatened her family, she went to the police with a description. But due to her previous drug use, they questioned the credibility of her story and dropped the investigation shortly after.

On August 31, 1997, John kidnapped a 53-year-old Vietnamese woman off the street. He forced her into his car and took her to an abandoned house, where he raped her. He then tied her to a stack of flattened cardboard boxes and drove her to his house. He raped her daily while holding her captive and forced her to fulfill various menial tasks for him. He released her on May 23, 1998, at a Greyhound bus station, with $50. She reported to the police that day, but nothing came of it. She claimed that the police did not believe her, but Syracuse Police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Connellan stated that they investigated all leads, but none panned out.

His last victim, a 26-year-old white woman, was kidnapped on May 11, 2001. John offered her a ride home while walking downtown Syracuse on LSD, and she accepted due to the poor weather. He took her back to his bunker, where he raped her daily. When she resisted, John inflicted cigar burns on her, from which she developed an abscess on her lower back. John also manipulated her with claims that he was part of an underground slavery syndicate, of which the police were a part.

John's reign of terror finally ended in 2003 when his last victim could escape and alert the authorities. But the investigation was complicated by the letter John had forced her to write. Further complicating the case was the rape kit test showing no evidence of sexual assault—John had no sexual contact with the victim for several days before releasing her. The victim also told police that he drove a tan 1974 Mercury Comet. Police searched for registered vehicles matching this description in the New York area and came up with a single hit. But the lead didn't pan out due to the victim's description of the vehicle not matching with the one discovered. Due to this inconsistency, the investigating officers closed the case.

John was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for his crimes. But even now, as he sits behind bars, the question remains: how many more victims are out there, still suffering in silence? The true extent of John's evil may never be known.