Page 10 - John Jamelske News Today

Be consensual, but remember, this girl, like jennifer and the 16-year-old african-american girl, was a prisoner locked underground and totally relied on jamelske for food and water. as far as she knew, her very life depended upon playing along. >> what do you guys wanna see? there aint nothing to do down here. its too boring. >> several times the girl looks right into the camera and appeals directly to jamelskes bosses, the men she believes have the power to set her free. >> you realize if i was...

Master. it was a shock to those who thought things like that always happened somewhere else. >> ive lived in this county for pushing 60 years now. so ive been down that road many times. >> and you had no idea what was going on inside that house? >> nobody had any idea what was going on, including the neighbors that lived across the street. >> and plenty of people knew who this guy was? >> hes well known, you know, in his local community. hes been there for his entire life. >> but did anyone real...

Something, just like that. she went through bottles of a-1. i bought the biggest bottles i could find of a-1 steak sauce, and she could -- she could use like a half a cup on a steak. >> so youre saying youre waiting on jennifer hand and foot? >> yeah. i mean, thats the least i can do. i wanted to make it as nice as i possibly could for her. >> nice? its hard to believe, but in jamelskes mind each of the women he imprisoned found him charming and practically volunteered to be pampered in his subt...

In the matter-of-fact tone of someone explaining the inner workings of a clock, jamelske says he simply wanted her for sex and decided to keep her chained close by in this shed on his mothers property. >> and you think thats okay? >> thats why i built the dungeon. she said, "this is kind of small." >> so you build the dungeon so you have more space? >> she said, "this is small, i want more room." >> can you blame her? >> hell, no. thats why i turned earth upside down to get this place bigger. >>...

Nursing his sick wife. but for 15 years police say john jamelske had another identity as a sexual slave master in a makeshift underground dungeon he had built himself to abuse and imprison a string of young women. now hes heading to trial, accused of kidnapping and rape, and there would be a drama in the courtroom. once more, heres rob stafford. >> in early summer 2003 john jamelske entered a syracuse courtroom for the first time. after two months of saturation coverage, the place was packed wit...

The ceiling, which is kind of nerve-racking when you think you have about 3, 3 1/2 feet of soil above us. >> investigators were dumbfounded. not only was the 16-year-old apparently telling the truth, but police say she might never have been victimized at all if jennifer had given them more to go on two years earlier. >> had we believed everything she had to say, we still couldnt have found him. >> the one fact she did have is she remembered that car. >> thoroughly investigated the car, but unfor...

Empty beer bottles, shelf after shelf meticulously organized by brand, some of them stacked alphabetically. but it was at the back of this room that police discovered what they were looking for, the entrance to the dungeon. it was secured by four heavy steel doors. this ten-foot tunnel separates the dungeon from the rest of the house. you have to get on your hands and knees to get there. its cold, dark and damp down here. police say this was the path to john jamelskes other collection. the under...

Places and events that landed him in jail seemed to come from a parallel universe. according to jamelske, every female who stayed in his dungeon went there willingly and happily exchanged sex for cash, room and board. so hes guilty of nothing more than cheating on his wife. >> thats basically -- what do you call it? adultery. so anyway -- >> but when you go to someone whos under age, its not called adultery. its called sexual assault. >> now i find that out. i had no idea. >> oh, come on. >> i n...

And -- >> angry. emotional. >> very, very much. >> even before his house became snared in a tangle of yellow police tape, jamelske was well known in his suburban syracuse hometown of dewitt but not exactly beloved. his upscale neighbors put up a fence to prevent his junk-strewn yard from spoiling their view. though many knew that jamelske, a retired grocer, collected returnable bottles for the deposits, few could have guessed the eccentric old man was actually a self-made millionaire, thanks to ...

No one knows for sure. but on april 8th, 2003, she brought john jamelskes career as a dungeon master to an end when she slipped away and called her sister. >> after three hours what you dont hear from you is any sympathy for jennifer or any of the others. >> i would never do it over if i had it to do over, and im extremely sorry for what happened to each -- every one of them. >> but it sounds like youre sorry because of the fact youre sitting here. >> no. >> and if you werent sitting here, youd ...