After 18-day nationwide search, workers find Jamaur Jackson in woods near Sheraden home

Saturday, July 19, 2003

By Bill Schackner, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

An autistic, mentally retarded teenager from Sheraden whose disappearance July 1 triggered a nationwide dragnet was found alive yesterday in a wooded area close to home, with a fractured foot and suffering from dehydration.

Several Duquesne Light Co. employees surveying an area behind Oltman Street in Sheraden found Jamaur Jackson, 18, about 3:50 p.m. They told police they heard a noise of some kind and followed it to the teenager.

"When we first saw him, he just asked who we were," Edward Warren, one of the workers who found Jackson, told KDKA-TV. "I asked him if he was hungry or anything like that," Warren said, adding that he gave Jackson his shirt because the teen had no clothes.

Jackson was in stable condition last night at Allegheny General Hospital, said Sgt. Amanda Aldridge, with the Pittsburgh Police sex assault and family crisis unit. Jackson also was being treated for hunger.

The teenager was able to speak with investigators, though they had only limited chance to do so early last evening as he was still undergoing treatment, police said. His mother, Lynn Vason, was at the hospital.

Jackson's cousin, Francine Cowan, spoke on behalf of the family last night.

"We're just happy that Jamaur has been found. By the grace of God, he's okay," Cowan said.

The wooded area where he was found is bounded by Chartiers Creek and is home to deer and turkey. Officers were combing the sloping woods where Jackson was found trying to figure out what transpired in the nearly three weeks since he failed to return from a walk in his neighborhood.

Jackson lives with his mother in a quiet, out-of-the-way residence that overlooks Chartiers Avenue. Following her son's disappearance, Vason said it was not uncommon for him to take walks of up to half an hour.

He did so on July 1 and returned home, but left a second time and did not return. Employees at a nearby Foodland said they saw him alone about 1 p.m. that day.

A day later, two waitresses at a McCandless restaurant reported seeing Jackson in the company of two individuals: 28-year-old Aaron Martens of Peters and an unidentified woman.

Martens had not shown up for class at Triangle Tech on the North Side the same day as Jackson's disappearance. A one-way Greyhound bus ticket to Phoenix had been purchased in Marten's name.

Police contacted law enforcement along the route asking them to intercept the bus. It was stopped in Flagstaff, Ariz., but Martens was released after he denied any knowledge of Jackson and was able to explain his actions.

Police later said Martens was not considered a prime suspect.

Bill Schackner can be reached at bschackner@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1977.

Copyright ©1997-2003 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.