crewtime 07/31/08 (Thu) 19:32:26 #94021132
Hello again, Parawatchers. Hope you're all having a good summer as this July comes to a close. This week we'll be taking a look at the tragic case of Jacob Stourner, a teenager whose death caused quite a shock in his quiet hometown of Delafield, Wisconsin. This isn't a case I would have found out about normally, but a few of you who lived near the area asked me to look into it, and it is indeed quite strange. As usual, I'll be going over the facts, searching for any supernatural elements, and giving you all my conclusion on what happened.
I should preface this post by saying, however, that this case is somewhat unique, and I will try to handle it with as much tact as possible. The reason for this is simple: this is the first case I have covered that, officially, was ruled as a suicide.
crewtime 07/31/08 (Thu) 19:45:32 #94021134
On September 21st, 1999, 16-year-old Jacob Stourner was found dead in the bathroom of his parent's home. After returning home from work, his father, David Stourner, realized something was amiss when his son did not respond after he called his name. Ascending the stairs, he found Jacob's room empty and the bathroom door locked. Fearing the worst, David called the police, who arrived and forced their way through the door. What he saw confirmed his fears.
The cause of death was severe blood loss from multiple self-inflicted stab wounds; a bloody kitchen knife was discovered on the floor next to Jacob's body. In the ensuing police investigation, several ripped-up pieces of paper were discovered in Jacob's room, which the police reconstructed as best as they could. The info the paper contained told a clear story: a lonely teenager, driven to suicide after the death of their only close friend. The town of Delafield was rocked by the news - but, as unfortunately tends to happen, the case eventually faded away into history, and with the evidence the police presented, there was little room for ambiguity regarding the nature of Jacob's death.
However, there are some details that don't add up. Details glaring enough to put this case on my radar. Details that lead me to believe that Jacob Stourner did not commit suicide - that, somehow, someone (or something) entered the locked bathroom of the Stourner house, killed Jacob, and - inexplicably - fled the scene, all without leaving a trace.
crewtime 07/31/08 (Thu) 19:52:26 #94021134
At the time of his death, Jacob was a freshman at Kettle Moraine High School. His parents describe him as being quiet and withdrawn, having seemingly made no friends throughout most of his childhood and adolescence. As his mother, Rachael, said in an interview:
He was always a shy one, Jacob… never made much of an effort to talk to other kids. He didn't seem to mind, though. He was… happy, in his own special way. Found his own ways to pass the time. Roaming the woods around the house, watching the sunset from the porch… sometimes I'd see him smile and laugh, like the world itself was his friend. Still though, it was nice when he found a real friend… even though…
This, of course, leads us to the first tragedy in the case. At some point, Jacob met Alex Giella, a fellow student at Kettle Moraine. Jacob's parents don't remember many details (they were frequently away from home due to work), but it seems the two met and bonded over their shared love of violin, one of Jacob's few noted hobbies. The two became close, with Jacob on a few occasions inviting Alex to his house - a fact that Mr. and Mrs. Stourner immediately took notice of. They had long since resigned themselves to their son remaining alone throughout high school, so to see him find a genuine friend brought them some happiness.
Unfortunately, mere months after their friendship began, Alex and his parents passed away in a car accident. Without much in the way of a support system, Jacob did not take this tragedy well. His parents recall him spending hours locked in his room, a far cry from the quiet but inquisitive teenager he used to be. Looking back, Mr. Stourner has expressed a sense of regret - he had noticed his son's worsening mental state, but, swamped with work, had chosen to look past it for the time being. Merely a few weeks later, his son was gone - leaving him with nothing but time to reflect on his mistakes.
That is David's side of the story. Rachael's is different.
To this day, Rachael believes her son was murdered.
crewtime 07/31/08 (Thu) 20:03:53 #94021137
So what evidence is there that Jacob's death was not, in fact, a suicide? The first is obvious, and it's strange to me that the police report did not focus on this detail further. It is the morbid fact that the stab wounds on Jacob's body were numerous - far too numerous, in my opinion, to have been self-inflicted. The police reported thirteen stab wounds - ten in the chest, three in the throat. These were not shallow wounds either - each time, the knife plunged deep, before being withdrawn and stabbed inside again. While not impossible, I find it extremely unlikely that Jacob - an average teenager with no special level of pain tolerance - could have stabbed himself that many times before succumbing to shock and falling unconscious. This is the piece of evidence that Rachael has used for the past eight years in her attempt to overturn the ruling on her son's death. On its own, this is indeed rather damning evidence - but let's consider why the police would come to the conclusion that they did.
The biggest piece of evidence against the murder hypothesis is, of course, the locked door. The Stourner house is old, and the door to the family bathroom has a bolt action lock - one that would be impossible to lock from the outside. Beyond that, there are no obvious points of ingress - the bathroom is devoid of windows, and the ventilation shaft in the ceiling is far too thin for a person to crawl through. There's also the scene of the crime itself - despite the massive amounts of blood Jacob lost, the bathroom itself was found relatively undisturbed. If Jacob had been murdered, surely he would have fought back, resulting in blood splatter on the floor, water in the bathtub splashing onto the carpet, the shower curtain falling - something to indicate a struggle. But no - Jacob was found lying in the bathtub - bloody, but with no sign of any intruder. With this in mind, it's understandable why the police chose to ignore the conflicting evidence of the stab wounds, and declare the case an open-and-shut suicide.
But there's another piece of evidence that can't be easily explained.
Jacob's face was found covered in blood. An enormous amount of blood. Upon discovery of the body, the police actually had to rinse it off before they could properly identify him - that's how much had been smeared on him.
As I mentioned earlier, the 13 stab wounds were all in Jacob's neck or chest - none on his face. For that much blood to have been smeared on his face, he would have had to, for whatever reason, wipe his bloody hands all over his face as he was bleeding out. But, confoundingly, Jacob's hands were found to be relatively blood-free - yet another piece of evidence. If Jacob had really stabbed himself, surely all that blood would've gotten onto his hands?
The only explanation that makes sense to me is that someone else - the murderer, presumably - smeared the blood on his face. But why? Some sort of serial killer, leaving a unique "mark" on their victim? Doubtful - I couldn't find a single case of a similarly bloodied cadaver in any of the surrounding areas in the years before and after Jacob's death. If it was a serial killer, it was an incredibly isolated one that never struck again.
It's a strange series of events. A teenager, contemplating suicide, enters a bathroom to end his own life - but is seemingly stabbed to death by someone else before he can do so. Why? Who would do such a thing?
To answer that question, we turn to the last piece of evidence I haven't covered: the ripped-up note.
Now, normally, suicide notes (for that is what this note, undoubtedly, appears to be) are incredibly elusive pieces of evidence, being kept private from everyone except the loved ones of the deceased - and even then, only being shared with them at the police department's discretion. This case, however, is a bit different. In the wake of his son's death, it was David Stourner himself who agreed to make the note public, informing the media of what it said. He said that he hoped it would serve as a cautionary tale for other parents not to make the same mistakes that he did. I agree - but I believe there is a deeper truth in the note that he isn't seeing.
Given the state of the paper, some parts of the note are illegible. Here is what it said.
Alex
I miss you
See you soon
F[ILLEGIBLE]
Franky
I'm sorry
I want to see you again
[ILLEGIBLE] a real friend
crewtime 07/31/08 (Thu) 20:17:22 #94021139
The question this raises is obvious: who is Franky? Both Mr. and Mrs. Stourner don't recognize the name. A few students named Frank were found who attended Kettle Moraine, but none of them knew Jacob in any way. Clearly, it was someone of extreme importance to Jacob; Alex's death was the cause of his depressed and seemingly suicidal state, and this "Franky" is the only other person mentioned in the note. If it had been another friend Jacob had made before Alex, surely Mr. and Mrs. Stourner would have known.
As unfortunate as it is, however, I believe we simply have no way of knowing. Mr. and Mrs. Stourner have been interviewed countless times over the years, and it's doubtful that there's any key piece of evidence they've neglected to mention until now. Jacob's lack of friends also means that, other than his parents, there are few who can provide any other worthwhile testimonies- even Alex's parents, who could've shed some light on the situation, passed away in the same accident that took their son's life.
I want to end this post by saying that it is entirely possible that Jacob Stourner did, in fact, kill himself, and that there are no supernatural elements to this case whatsoever. However, I personally agree with Rachael Stourner - I believe Jacob was stabbed to death by someone else. Unlike her, however, I have my reasons to doubt that the killer was malicious. There's one more detail from the autopsy that I didn't mention, which I have transcribed below:
Subject's hair was found disheveled, as if someone had rustled it recently. A small circular imprint was also noted among the blood covering the subject's forehead.
As one last note, Rachael - now 62, and living by herself - was recently interviewed again about her son's death. Here is what she had to say.
My son… I know he didn't kill himself. He's… we're Christians. God-fearing Christians. I remember… when he was just a little boy, he ran up to me, crying, asking if it was really true that people who killed themselves couldn't go to Heaven. And I told him yes, of course. There's no way he could've forgotten that. There's just no way…