In this week's edition of "The Missing," we revisit the mysterious disappearance of Donna Jou, a 19-year-old resident of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, who went missing on June 23, 2007.
"We as a family are devastated, and our life has been torn apart," Donna's father, Reza Jou, said in a telephone interview with Investigation Discovery. "Every single day we hope and pray that we will find her."
On the day of her disappearance, Donna told her mother, Nili Jou, that one of her friend's boyfriends was going to pick her up and take her to a house party in Santa Monica. At about 5:30 p.m., a man on a motorcycle pulled up in front of the house, and Donna ran out to meet him. Moments later, she was on the back of his bike, and they were on their way down the street.
"When he came here, he had a helmet on, and nobody saw his face," Reza said, adding, "Donna didn't even see his face."
Later that night, Donna called a friend in San Diego and said that she was calling from a bathroom inside the house where the man had taken her.
"She said her friend was not there and that the guy who had picked her up was really freaking her out," Reza said. "She said he was acting odd and would not get the hint that she was not interested in him. She did not ask for help, so I think she thought that the man would take her back home."
Sometime after midnight, Nili received a text message from her daughter that read, "I WILL BE HOME SOON. LOVE YOU MOMMY." Nili found the message odd because it was written in all caps, and "Mommy" was not a term her daughter would typically use. The next day, at about 6:08 p.m., Nili received a second text message from her daughter, which read, "I am in San Diego. I love you Mommy. I am coming home." That would prove to be the last contact ever made from Donna's phone. The following day, her parents called the police and reported their daughter missing.
"When the police came, they took the laptop that Donna had been using to the crime lab," Reza said. "When they looked at it, they discovered that Donna had been corresponding with a man she [had] met on Craigslist [an Internet community for posting classified advertisements]."
According to Reza, Donna, an honor student at San Diego State University, had offered tutoring services on the Web site, and the man had contacted her in response to her advertisement.
"We really don't know how my daughter was convinced to meet him," Reza said. "The police found photos on the computer that the man had sent her, in which he looked to be about 20 years old."
Investigators traced the Internet messages to 35-year-old John Steven Burgess, aka Sinjin Stevens, a sex offender who had been convicted of performing a lewd act against a child, in 2003, and of three counts of battery, in 2002.
On July 5, investigators traced Burgess to a West Los Angeles area house that he had been renting with five other people. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found. When questioned, Burgess's roommates told police that they had last seen him earlier that day loading his truck with cardboard boxes. When asked if they had seen Donna, all of the roommates reported that she had been at the house on the night of June 23, but none of them had seen her since. The following day, police issued an APB on Burgess's black motorcycle and his 1998 blue Ford Ranger pickup, with California license tag SIN-JIN-1.
While police actively searched for Burgess and his truck, a man called police on July 8 and reported finding a plastic tool box in the weeds, approximately a mile and a half from Burgess's apartment. Inside, police found a black motorcycle helmet, rubber gloves, rope, a scrub brush and the SIN-JIN-1 vanity plate. The following day, police executed a search warrant on Burgess's apartment and confiscated several knives.
On July 26, police in Jacksonville, Florida, arrested Burgess for possession of crack cocaine; however, at the time, they were unaware of his true identity.
"He gave the police the wrong identification," Reza said. "When they were booking him in the jail, they did the fingerprints, and that was when they found out he was the man that California was looking for. They got a hold of California authorities and told them they had him. The detectives from California went to Jacksonville and questioned him about Donna, but he declined to talk and asked for a lawyer."
Burgess remained behind bars in California until August 2006, when California had him extradited to appear in court for failing to register as a sex offender. Following his arraignment, Burgess posted bail in the amount of $250,000 and was released from jail. About this time, police named him as an official suspect in the disappearance of Donna Jou. As a result, Burgess hit the road and hightailed it back to Florida, where, approximately three weeks later, he was arrested for theft.
"The bond company revoked his bond, and he was again extradited to California," Reza said. "When he got there, he was back in court, and the judge doubled his bond to $500,000 and ordered him not to leave the city of Los Angeles."
While Burgess was imprisoned in the county jail, Nili went and sat down with him for a face-to-face meeting.
"He told her he did not hurt Donna and that he had no reason to do so," Reza said. "He said he was drunk [at the party] and did not know where she had gone."
Burgess remained in the county jail until October 10, 2007, when he was sentenced to three years in state prison for failing to register as a sex offender. Following the hearing, Burgess was transferred to Wasco State Prison, where he remains as of this writing.
Reza hopes his daughter is still alive and says he has considered the possibility that she may have been sold as a sex slave.
"Burgess has been involved in many shady activities in the past, including the porn industry, and it is possible that he has sold my child as a sex slave to someone. Maybe he is afraid to speak because the people behind it may be bigger than him and he might be afraid for his life."
Police have yet to charge Burgess in Donna's disappearance. According to Reza, they do not feel they have enough evidence to ensure a conviction.
"They are concerned about a hung jury," Reza said. "If they don't have enough evidence, they can't try him again because of double jeopardy. That is why they are trying very hard to gather information. We have hired attorney Gloria Allred to work with authorities in California. She is our liaison. But so far, they have not told us the details of what they have, and every time I go meet with them face to face, they tell me to trust that they are doing everything possible."
When asked if there was anything he would like to say to his daughter, Reza responded:
"I want to tell her that I love her immensely and that no matter what condition or shape she is in, I will love her and accept her. I want her back in my life. That is the message I want to send to her."
Donna Jou is described as a white female, 5'3" tall, 110 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department at 213-485-2601 or Detective Ito at 213-485-2531. A $15,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to the discovery of Donna's whereabouts.
For more information or to help, please visit: www.donnajou.com.
If you are a family member of a missing loved one and have a case you would like covered here, contact me via e-mail . If you are a reader who would like to help, please spread the word about this blog so others can find us. The more people who see these stories, the better the chances are that someone might come forward with information.
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