0:00 But I'm here to tell you about my son's story and the horrific experience that he
0:06 went through. First of all, I want you to get to know my boy. This is my Jake, my
0:15 baby boy, one out of my two kids. And, oh, those dimples. Everyone commented on those
0:26 cute little dimples. I was this fifth grade teacher, which every kid's
0:32 nightmare, right? To have your mom as your teacher. But I was this fifth grade
0:39 teacher, so I was able to see what a kind -hearted, thoughtful, and caring kid this
0:45 was. Not just as a mother, but as a teacher. I remember one day after school,
0:52 he came up to me and he kind of had glassy eyes, you know, almost teary. And he said,
1:00 I said, what's wrong? And he said, mom, something happened today. And first I need
1:06 to give you a little background. We had a little boy in our class that had a medical
1:10 issue that didn't have control of his vowels and oftentimes he smelled and the
1:19 kids really made fun of him. He had no friends. He was picked on. Don't touch
1:26 these guy cooties type stuff. And Jake was his friend. Jake had a group of friends
1:37 that he hung out with that he loved and they loved him, but he saw this little boy
1:45 and he befriended him. And after school one day he came up to me and he said, Mom,
1:52 he said, they're being so mean to Brian. And I said, I said, what happened? He
1:58 said, well, at school at recess. He said, I said, come on, Brian, let's go out. And
2:04 we were walking out on the playground and my friends were like on the basketball
2:10 court and saying, Jake, come over, come play with us. And he's like, yeah, let's
2:15 go play. Come on, Brian, let's go play. And we got over there and they said, just
2:19 you, Jake, not Brian. And I said, well, Jake, what did you do? How did you handle
2:28 that? And he said, I just turned to him and I said, nah, it's okay. Brian and I
2:33 are going to go play over here. And so he actually gave up his friends because he
2:40 saw this little boy I had no friends. That's the kind of kid my Jake was.
2:50 When he was in middle school, he would spend his days off. He'd say, mom, can I
2:57 go to school with you? And even in high school, mom, can I go to school with you
3:02 on his days off? And he would come to school with me and he would help tutor the
3:07 kids. He would help them with math or he'd read to them. The kids in my class always
3:13 knew Jake.
3:17 Jake loved donuts. This was his last birthday. I made him a cake out of donuts
3:25 and he said, Mom, that was the best cake ever. He also loved about the donuts every
3:35 year when he was in high school and he had his own money. He would show up on my
3:41 birthday and he would show up with three dozen donuts so he could give donuts to my
3:48 class for my birthday. That's the kind of kid Jake was. He also was an animal lover.
3:58 This was his best buddy Bosco and he loved dogs. He loved animals.
4:09 He also loved music. When he was a little toddler, he'd be in the backseat. It was
4:15 amazing because I'm big into music, so I'd have the music blaring and he'd be in the
4:20 backseat as a toddler in his little car seat going to the beat of the music. Just
4:27 even as a little toddler, he loved music. He loved everything and a big variety. He
4:33 loved Linkin Park all the way to Elvis and Buddy Holly and I was like, wow, that's a
4:39 huge, huge thing. One of my sweet memories is on Mother's Day, he bought me tickets
4:50 to the Styx REO Speedwagon concert, but it wasn't for me to take just anyone. He gave
4:59 me one ticket and the other one was for him. And we went as mother and son and
5:05 rocked out to Stug's and REO Speedwagon. That's the kind of kid Jake was. He was a
5:12 great student. He got his associate's degree while he was in high school, which
5:20 was a great achievement for him. Most of all, Jake loved his family. My two nephews
5:32 were Jake's best friends and they did everything together, including pranking
5:39 me. That was their most favorite thing to do. And then I got my first grandbaby and
5:51 that just made Jake an uncle and he was so proud to be Uncle Jake now.
6:01 Sorry, I'm having issues. Okay.
6:11 Jake and I had the fall break and so we went on a road trip together. Just the two
6:20 of us. And we went to the Grand Canyon. We went to Bryce and just had mother and son
6:29 time. These are the pictures. from our road trip as well as the one that's up
6:39 here. This one he had never seen the Grand Canyon and when we got there it was full
6:46 of clouds and so that was his picture with the Grand Canyon was clouds in the
6:52 background. This right here was our last trip together. Two weeks later is where
7:02 I'm going to pick up with the story.
7:13 It was the day before Halloween and I was a teacher and I had a teacher work day and
7:20 I was sitting at my desk when I got a call from the Millow County Police Department.
7:27 I said, is this Cindy George? And I said, yes. And he said, do you have a son named
7:33 Jake? Jake? And I said, yes. And do you have a place in Kanosh, Utah? And I said,
7:40 yes. And that hit me. Jake's at our little place. We had just little getaway place
7:48 there and he must have he must be there and they must think that he's breaking in
7:57 or something like that. And I said, yes. Yeah, that's my son. And they said, he has
8:02 taken his life. in your home.
8:09 I just argued with him. I said, you got the wrong kid. My kid was not on drugs. My
8:17 kid did not drink. My kid was not depressed. This did not make sense. It
8:27 couldn't be my kid. And I argued with him until they described his car and explained
8:34 that he had taken a gun and he was gone.
8:44 The rest of the day was kind of a blur.
8:52 And why? Couldn't even fathom how this could happen. And they the police
9:03 department, they faxed a couple of his letters. He wrote seven letters. This is
9:07 kind of kid Jake was. He wrote letters to his sister, to his friends, to his nephews
9:16 or his cousins. This one's to me. I'm just going to read part of it. It says, Dear
9:21 Mom, I love you so much and it pains me to write this. I wish I could live with what
9:29 I did. I know this will be hard for you, but I need you to continue on with your
9:35 life. I hope you don't think too bad of me for what I did. I know this is sudden, but
9:43 the hell that I went through Sunday through Thursday was too much for me to
9:48 handle. I love you dearly, mom. You will always be my mother and I will always be
9:57 your baby boy. But, Jake, it still didn't make sense. What could possibly make him
10:08 do this? And so four months later, the police department gave me back his phone
10:18 and the last letter that they held. And it says, my dear, this is poor.
10:30 all of his parents. I'm sorry for what I have done, but I have nothing to live for
10:35 anymore. I have made a huge mistake that I can't live with. Look at my phone and read
10:42 the messages that are in the Kik app. Start with the girl profile named Alona
10:47 Home and then move on to the profile just for fun. These messages will explain
10:52 everything. From Sunday to Thursday, my life has been a living hell and
10:57 rollercoaster of emotion. The one person that owns these two profiles will be using
11:03 Facebook to ruin my life. There's a good chance I will lose my job and get kicked
11:09 out of school as the person attacks me there using Facebook. I urge you all to
11:16 control what happens on Facebook as much as possible. This person claims that they
11:23 will copy some of your profiles and attack your friends also. This person attacked my
11:32 three most important things being my school, my job, and my family.
11:41 Please don't change your lives for me. Hold your children and grandchildren
11:46 close. I love you all. Jake. So, I'm just going to take you a little timeline.
11:57 I got his phone back and I read. I just took it aside and I read the whole
12:03 conversation. And I understood the pressure and the hell that they put him
12:12 through. This happened in five days. I was with him on Sunday and Friday. He was
12:20 gone.
12:24 I read the conversation how the predator talked him into sending him a nude photo.
12:30 After grooming him, they talked him into sending one nude photo. And kind of like,
12:41 I'll send you one, you send me one. Talked him into it. I saw the high pressure that
12:48 they put him in. And then I saw how they sent him names of family members and said,
12:56 we're going after them next. And I think that's where it put Jake over the edge. So
13:07 I'm going to take you a timeline what his life went through in five days. on Sunday
13:16 they get him to send after grooming they got him to move to the Kik app I'm not
13:21 sure where the original source came from because he was on some dating sites and he
13:25 was on Facebook I believe it came from Facebook but I'm not sure on that but they
13:31 got him to move to the Kik app which is common
13:37 or this type of a thing After they got him to move, they said, now we've got you. Or
13:48 after they got him to send a picture, they said, now we've got you. Just added and
13:53 saved all your Facebook friends on my laptop. I am going to send them your nude
13:59 photo and post it all over your friends' Facebook timeline and also to your job on
14:06 UPS Facebook page. But I will not do that if you send me the money right now, okay?
14:15 After constant threats, high pressure, get there, get to the Walmart, get an
14:22 application. Let me see the application. Get to the ATM. Let me see the money. He
14:27 was having to take pictures of everything. They were on him. Just didn't give him
14:30 time to even process and think this through. He finally at 7.06 that night, he
14:37 makes a payment of $300 at a Walmart at Saratoga Springs to a Marie's Abril in the
14:46 Philippines. Then Jake asks for her to please delete the picture like you said.
14:59 This was the response he got. he said, they said, do you know what a genie is,
15:06 Jake? And he said, yes. He says, well, you are my genie today and I have found you.
15:12 So you have to grant me three wishes. And he says, which are, which you means you're
15:22 going to have to make three payments.
15:27 After begging for her to leave him alone, saying, I'm just a college kid, please
15:32 leave me alone. Jake ends up back at Walmart that night to make another payment
15:40 of $130. The torment and constant threats continued for the next few days. Jake paid
15:49 them everything he had, $680. And after fulfilling the three wishes that she
16:00 required of him, Jake then begged her to now please delete the photo.
16:09 And the reply was, you
16:15 work at UPS. In two weeks, you'll have another paycheck. And Jake realized this
16:23 is never going to end.
16:34 He says, please delete it. I can't live the next two weeks with you blackmailing
16:39 me. I gave you his total that he had just given his last payment. And he said, he
16:50 said, you won't get any more money if I'm not here.
16:57 The reply was, five guys committed suicide because I posted their nudes and ruined
17:04 their life, but I never care because it's their choice, not mine. You will be the
17:10 sixth and I still won't care. On Thursday, Jake buys a garden hose. and heads at a
17:27 Home Depot in American Fork. And then in Richfield, he buys a ream of paper and a
17:38 box of envelopes and he goes to a hotel. And I assume that's where he wrote all of
17:44 his letters. And he left one on the desk in the hotel saying the person that was in
17:56 this room is going to take their life. Please contact. And he said Brandon
18:05 George, which was my husband at the time, his brother that lived in Kanash and said,
18:11 please contact him. I'm going to be out in the West Desert.
18:19 Then on his way out of town, he bought a helium tank, which was later found empty
18:27 in his car. Along with when I got in his car, I found the hose and it was black on
18:34 one end. And the helium tank was empty. And I think that he tried to take his life
18:42 using that method. And I think it was just taking too long and he could not do it.
18:51 and he knew that my husband at the time had a shotgun in Kanosh and he found the
19:03 key and he took his life. The hell that I go through thinking of those last moments
19:13 as he's sitting there in so much torment and having to pull that trigger because of
19:23 these evil people and what they did. No mother should have to bury their son. And
19:31 it was so pointless.
19:37 I could not catch this person. I was told because it came from the Philippines,
19:43 there was nothing that could be done. There's a program on the National
19:49 Geographic called Trafficking with Mariana Van Zeller. They contacted me out of the
19:57 blue. I don't know how they found me. And they said, we want to do your son's story.
20:01 And we want to go to the Philippines and try and find who did this. And so she came
20:07 to my house. They did the interview. And then they proceeded to investigate. And
20:13 they found the source in the Philippines. And it was a call center. A huge call
20:24 center. This is going on and hitting so many of our children. It's a big business
20:37 there.
20:41 She actually talked to one of the people that does this and he was hooded so all
20:47 you could see was his eyes. She said, do you know that people are killing
20:50 themselves because of that? And he said, yeah, I watched one of them do it. That's
20:58 the kind of evil we're talking about here. Something has to be done. Brandon Guffey,
21:07 a state representative in South Carolina that I have spoken to, had lost his son
21:12 Gavin, his 17-year-old son Gavin, to sex extortion. And after his son died, he
21:23 actually got contact. He was contacted by the perpetrator. And they sent him a
21:34 laughing emoji. And it said, did I tell you your son begged for his life? That's
21:44 the kind of evil we're talking about here.
21:50 This is coming from Nigeria. This is coming from the Ivory Coast. This is
21:56 coming from here. We need to do something to warn these kids. I cannot catch the
22:09 people that did this to my son. Brandon Guffey, I saw on his Facebook about six
22:15 months ago, he and his wife were holding a set of handcuffs on his page. And they
22:25 have Gavin's name etched in the in his handcuffs. And they went to Nigeria and
22:32 they found who did this to their son. And they extradited them and they've been
22:40 charged. What a great thing that they were able to do that. The Philippine government
22:49 were not so accommodating when the National Geographic went over there. They
22:57 know who started the whole thing in the Philippines and she's been arrested and
23:04 then let out.
23:08 I asked for your help because I can't catch them. My son died so needlessly. I
23:17 can't catch them, but the only thing I can do is warn others. Please talk to your
23:23 grandkids, your kids, your neighbors, your nephews. Talk to them so they won't take
23:32 the bait. That's the only thing we can do is educate so they won't take the bait.
23:38 And we need to also talk to them and let them know no matter what, no matter what
23:44 is happening in your life, that they can come to you. I wish Jake would have been
23:49 able to come to me. I wish I could have comforted him and said, it's okay, they
23:56 can't destroy your life with a picture.
24:03 Don't ever think this This can never happen to my child, my nephew, because I
24:09 can testify to you that it can happen to the best of kids. Thank you. Thank you.