Man Hunts Down Child Predators & Gets Revenge

the man you see smiling at his brother during his sentencing is Jason vukovich he earned himself the name the Alaskan Avenger when he began hunting down and attacking men convicted of abusing minors and soon you'll hear the story directly from him in an exclusive interview I've never seen him before when a string of break-ins and assaults began terrifying the residents of Anchorage Alaska the police were desperate to find out who was responsible as the police investigated they soon realized that the three break-in victims all shared a disturbing background that would bust the case wide open as Alaska became the center of a media storm the police were left trying to puzzle out the perpetrator's motive was he a vigilante who believed he could take justice into his own hands or were these violent crimes all part of a Revenge spree on June 24 2016 Charles Albee was enjoying a peaceful morning in his home when he heard a knock at his dorm not suspecting anything dangerous could be on the other side Charles opened it to find a tall man with dark shoulder-length hair and a black leather jacket staring down at him the man forced his way into Charles home and ordered him to sit on his bed Charles followed the man's orders but still that didn't stop him from facing the man's Wrath the Intruder slapped Charles around a few times and detailed how he was able to find Charles's address he then stole a few items from Charles's home and fled as soon as the Intruder was gone Charles called the police and told them everything he could remember about the man including the fact that he appeared to be holding a notebook with a list of names in it he also told them something about himself which would soon be a key piece of evidence for the police Charles Albee was convicted in 2003 of second-degree abuse of a minor and the Intruder had bound his address through an offender registry three days later the police received a late night call from a man named Andres Barbosa according to Andres he had been sleeping in his home when frantic knocking on his door woke him up at four in the morning when he opened the door he was greeted by a tall man in a black leather jacket as well as two women the group pushed their way into Andre's home and ordered him to sit in a chair following their instructions Andres sat and suddenly one of the women pulled out her phone and began recording the Intruder then punched Andre several times before threatening to quote bash in his Dome with a hammer the man then berated him and stated that he was here to collect what Andres owed with the Women's Health the man stole several things from Andres home including the man's truck before the group fled the scene while police were already pretty certain that this attack was related to Charles's break-in two days prior there were enough differences that there was a possibility it could be someone else for instance the two women involved in andres's assault had not been reported at the previous break-in additionally the hammer used by the perpetrator in andres's assault wasn't present in the assault against Charles however once officers learned that Andres Barbosa was a child abuser who was placed on the registry in 2014 after being caught with inappropriate photos of minors they knew the two cases were connected with this information the police were beginning to see a pattern forming was this man going after child abusers was he just a man who had decided that the child abuser registry was an easy way to find potential break-ins or was there more to his motive detectives wouldn't have to wait long to find out as two days later another break-in was reported however this one had escalated much further than the others on June 29th police responded to a 9-1-1 call of another break-in this time one that had ended in violent Bloodshed after arriving and rushing the man Wesley Demarest to the hospital they were able to interview him and get an idea of what had taken place that night Sir from the beginning until it will happen tonight I was asleep my roommate pounded on my door or something woke up and he said somebody's trying to break in so I got out of bed and by the time I got to my door there was some guy standing with a hammer the guy told my roommate just to go sit down somewhere do anything that's it they started uh yelling at me about Defender 2006 I had a conviction I'm tempted he said years avenging something and he kept swinging the hammer back and forth sorry to get down on my knees which I didn't they told me to lay down my bed which I didn't and he slapped me a couple of times or I tried to hit him a couple of times tried to push him then he told me to get down on my knees I I think then he hit me with the hammer beside my face Wesley Demarest is a registered child abuser who only served nine months in jail for attempting to assault his kindergarten aged granddaughter it wouldn't take long for them to find the man responsible for the attack the 9-1-1 call from Wesley's roommate had mentioned that the Intruder left the house in a car shortly before the police arrived so there was a good chance the man was still in the area this guy's leaving now he's getting in his car now what kind of car it's a small small car would you do you feel safe going to stuck on your roommate make sure he's okay yes yes uh getting from his head after searching through nearby roads the police pulled over a suspicious Honda Civic not far from the victim's home an officer approached the vehicle and introduced himself to the driver a man by the name of Jason vukovic to the officer's surprise Jason quickly and freely admitted to being the man who broke into Wesley's home realizing that they'd finally found their Intruder the officer began recording a preliminary interview with Jason the officers roadside interview with Jason started out fairly standard with the officer reading Jason his Miranda rights and questioning him about what exactly went on at Wesley's house when Jason is reluctant to talk about the actual attack with Wesley despite admitting to being the perpetrator the officer changes tactics and begins questioning Jason on how he discovered Wesley in the first place so you just saw the address on this guy he said in Laura's house absolutely not okay how did you get how did you decide to go over here um yeah because I absolutely okay um I've been working for the camera correct she has no relationship um I can't speak on anything that she uh say something like that I will never take any actions okay this answer from Jason immediately gives the officer some crucial insight into his psyche it appears Jason is displaying delusions of grandeur by seeing Cherie as his CIA Handler which is a common symptom of bipolar disorder while it is fully possible that Jason is just saying these things to confuse or deceive the officer it seems much more likely that Jason has convinced himself Cherie is a Handler sending him out on righteous missions those with bipolar disorders also suffer through phases of mania where they may experience extreme happiness anger poor judgment and paranoia it's possible that Jason was in the throes of a manic phase when he decided to attack his three victims after talking to the officer about Sheree Jason was comfortable enough to tell them how he broke into Wesley's house with a hammer and got into an altercation with him what they're doing folks okay how many of those shoes Okay and then what happened can you solve some of the hammer at all the attack back I didn't realize he was like six foot six that kind of a monster so let me tell you once again so he attacked me and uh I'm really not much for higher yeah seriously while Jason's account of events did slightly contradict that of both Wesley and his roommate this interview made it clear to police that Jason was the Intruder not only that but his comments made them confident in the fact that he had also been responsible for the other two break-ins as well despite Jason being the only one involved with this break-in he wasn't actually alone in the car and the passenger seat was a woman named Elisa Geisler whom police suspected was potentially one of the women involved in the break-in an assault of Andres Barbosa both Jason and Elisa were brought into custody for further questioning as officers hoped that these two could shed more light on the many questions surrounding the case first and foremost why had Jason started hunting down offenders Elisa was the first one to be interviewed at the police station detective Landis the main investigator conducting the interrogation walks into the interrogation room only to find Elisa asleep in her chair he tries to begin the interrogation after waking Elisa up however she's crashing from a high on methamphetamines and is struggling to stay awake it's slightly questionable that officers would choose to interview Elisa in this state as her inebriated state would affect both her judgment and her memory additionally elise's mental state hinders her ability to make decisions including consenting to the police interrogation despite this officers are able to get a few key pieces of information out of her use our hammer in the car oh yeah at least if I want to get the hammer where do I need to look in the car to find it front seat okay given the State Wesley was found in it's likely that this Hammer would be covered in blood if the police were able to recover it from Jason's car it could serve as damning DNA evidence against him alongside this information Elisa is also able to nudge detectives closer towards Jason's motive does Jason have a particular dislike for sex offenders has he ever talked to you about that nothing to chill it was a special dislike for them yes I'd say yeah I would say yes unfortunately before the detectives can get any more useful information out of Elisa she passes out once more after letting Elisa sleep for a few minutes they try to interrogate her again at first it seems that she's just giving them more of the same information until she mentions something interesting what was a conversation that lucky had with you when he came out of the house did he say anything about hurting somebody or doing what was righteously probably do you remember what it was um doing the work of the righteous it seems like here the detectives are attempting to use words that the other Witnesses used in order to spark elise's memory and try to engage her while this would normally be frowned upon in interviews Elisa is extremely sedated and unlikely to provide any helpful information on her own it might have been beneficial for the officers to let her sleep it off for longer and try to talk to her more openly when she was coherent but they may have been worried that she wouldn't cooperate when she sobered up the only person who could confirm or deny this for the police would be Jason himself and it was finally time to interview him in this interrogation detective Anderson takes over while detective Landis sits in unlike most people brought in on assault and robbery charges Jason is overwhelmingly friendly towards the detectives and is happy to chat their ears off despite his charming and polite demeanor Jason avoids actually answering many of the detective's questions instead going into detail about his philosophies on life I move along the path and police and change light moves so the reason why is because I'm attempting to demonstrate humility detective Anderson stays calm and friendly towards Jason as he Rants and slowly prods Adam until Jason gives the detective some useful information by keeping his cool and acting like Jason's friend the detective is able to build up a rapport with Jason and earn his trust this tactic works and Jason eventually gives the detective some information they can work with I'm just trying to get a sense of what's been going on I guess without getting into a whole bunch of unnecessary uh specifics um I can tell you that what's been going on is uh hard work uh okay and um hard work out of concern uh for kids Jason makes it clear to the detectives that everything he's done has been out of concern for children and he even gives them extra Insight on how he views his crimes against offenders people who have committed crimes against children have been convicted in a court of law and you want to see that these people get what you believe they deserve is that is that not correct or is that correct I guess let me think yeah yeah be careful how I respond okay this is this is what I would like to say um do I think taking retributive action on people that have done something to kids wanton or otherwise is what I want um I have to say not specifically no oh it's not my desire to go uh running willy-nilly uh through this life and doing something like that maybe somebody you want isn't the right phrase maybe it's um what you feel you're required to do or that it's the right thing to do um those are both extremely accurate States so even though you may not particularly want to do it it's kind of a sense of Duty oh absolutely I found it out it's kind of the way I said is uh I wouldn't expect to have privilege um or privilege or extra freedom in this life without also being willing to participate in the entire um practice you know not just yeah I just okay cool I can have all the good stuff but none of the work yeah well I think when you use the term work it's I think that's probably what I'm seeing is it's out of a sense of Duty it's it's actual work it's not something you enjoy to do but it's something you're required to do or you feel obligated to do that is without any exception of the case um and I can tell you that uh internally I'm in no way shape or form in violent or dangerous person I certainly have no assaults on my record I would not seek to just I would say I would derive no joy from a person suffering anywhere you know Jason's urge to protect children is certainly admirable but he could just be using that as a convenient excuse to enact violence on others the police have to determine how much of this is true in order to fully understand Jason's motive unfortunately for the detectives Jason's refusal to answer most questions in a straightforward manner makes it hard for them to get any concrete details out of them forcing them to look elsewhere for information hello hey this is Jim Anderson with APD um I got a word from the DA's office that you had some info about vukovic and what he was doing last time he was locked up he was talking to others about where they would go around and find uh guys that were convicted at child staging whatever and and he would tell them that they would provide them protection but that they were keeping an eye on them and that they knew who they were and was trying to recruit other other guys to to join him in doing that it wasn't hard for detective Anderson to acquire Jason's rather extensive rap sheet and it became evident that Jason had a history of trying to deal with offenders now that there was more than enough evidence to prove Jason was responsible for the break-ins and assaults it was just a matter of time until his trial and sentencing while sitting in jail Jason came up with a plea deal that would not only shock the press and the police but would also reveal to the world the true reason he went after these offenders on September 16 2016 several months after his initial arrest Jason sent a letter to the Anchorage Daily News claiming that he would be willing to serve the combined sentencing of not only his three victims but also the sentence given to Jason's stepfather the man who assaulted him as a child but never served time for the crime with the publishing of this letter it became clear to the world that Jason wasn't just attacking offenders in an attempt to keep the local children safe he was someone who had gone through the same pain and confusion that these offenders victims had gone through in his mind he was going to do whatever he could to make sure that none of the men he could find would ever hurt a child like that again the question was is this vigilante justice or Revenge well we reached out to Jason and he recounted that final incident that resulted in his arrest for the most part delivering a pretty Stern sermon and giving these guys a message and send them down in a chair instilling through fear that hey there's people around here that care about these kids like I never wore a mask I never brought a gun I never you know this was not like uh sort of murderous Mission by any means the last the last one I went to um I went to this guy's house and I was knocking on all the windows and doors for probably 45 minutes since lights were on telling them to come outside I needed to talk to him and I knew he was awake obviously he didn't want to come out and see me so I grabbed a hammer out of a tool bag in the back of my car and I used it to smash out the sidelight of his window and then climbed inside he was a relatively wealthy person with a his home had been converted unbeknownst to me to some sort of a bed and breakfast it was all way and uh so they're a guy and a lady were coming out of one of the bedroom doors and I knew they weren't him because I'd seen his pictures and I told him get back in the bedroom this doesn't have anything to do with you and then uh went into the master bedroom and uh get in there and this guy is probably I don't know six foot four six foot five three hundred pounds he's a big guy and I told him to sit down on the bed didn't want to and he started pushing on me a little bit and then he started punching me in the face then I got angry and uh I realized I had that hammer in the bag on the floor in between us so I just squat it down and take it up and I hit him one time and then in the course of the struggle I hit him two more times I told him you know you can consider me an avenging Angel for the children you think and uh anyway I'm assuming that the couple that I told you did back in the bedroom called the police because by the time that whole physical altercation was over I got back in the car and the police were already coming in and they stopped the car and police were patting me on the back asking me man did you get that [ __ ] did you get him good and we're shaking my hand all this sort of stuff um I was in shock ambulance is going by I'm thinking to myself you know I I'm probably just killed this person the rest of my life is gone I am not a violent person and I don't take joy in any sort of violent confrontations I never have been never will be however when your regressed to the state of a child and you realize this time I'm going to win against this sort of person there's some sort of a strange you know it's just sort of a strange feeling in that moment that it needs to happen or it needed to happen that's the best way I can explain it in a recent interview conducted with the unforbidden truth podcast Jason recounted his childhood and how it led him down this path of a violent crime spree you know I have no memories whatsoever of about 12 years old on back so I suppose and I think that's a trauma related response Jason's memories began with the abuse from his stepfather Larry Lee Fulton Jason and his brother Joel were both subject to abuse at Larry's hands with the monster creating a custom 2x4 with a two-handed grip to beat the backs of his stepson's legs not only did the two young boys have to Grapple with beating so brutal they struggled to stand but their stepfather soon began assaulting them during late night prayer sessions my brother and I shared a room uh where he would come in and you know try to touch our genitals and all types of things like that and uh again as young kids it's extremely difficult to make sense of what's happening to you while struggling to deal with the mental turmoil caused by his stepfather's actions Jason turned to his mother for help nobody neither one of us had the courage to say anything so I told Joel that's my brother uh I'm gonna tell her I'm gonna tell Mom what he's doing going so I told her uh and she absolutely didn't believe a Wordly said and made me sit there on a kitchen stool uh until he came home from work and had him March in the kitchen and she did the standard you know tell him what you told me tell him what you told me made me recite the abuse to him uh which he basically was very dismissive about um and mumbled something about being curious about whether we were maturing or you know something like that Jason and Joel were forced to endure the coming years with no hope of help from any adult in their lives eventually it got to be too much for Joel and he ran away from home leaving Jason to face the full Wrath of their stepfather Joel was eventually found by the cops and was arrested for being a runaway however Joel made the brave decision to tell the cops why he ran away an investigation into Larry Fulton was started and he was eventually found guilty on charges of second-degree abuse of a minor and the grand scheme of things this charge was meaningless instead of sending Larry to prison or removing Joel and Jason from his abusive care the state of Alaska suspended the three years of prison Larry was sentenced to as a part of his plea deal and sent him right back home to torment his children more not only did Joel face physical punishment from his stepfather for going to the police but he claims he was also mocked and ridiculed by other members of his family for his confession Joel and Jason were pulled from school immediately after Larry's trial and the family moved to a town where Larry's abuse would be less known looking for any way to get out of the house Jason began taking odd jobs fishing hunting or doing commercial work through these jobs he was able to save up some money and at the age of 16 Jason snuck out his bedroom window and ran away like his brother had done three years prior part of the process of leaving home my parents found out I have been sneaking out so I came home from one of those nights and my clothing was in trash bags on the front porch and all of the windows and doors were locked and they had kept my driver's license and my social security card all my identifying papers Jason was able to afford a plane ride to Spokane Washington with what money he had left but with no ID he was unable to get paid by any employers soon as money started to run out and Jason was forced to turn to petty theft and forged checks to afford food five months after starting his criminal career the law finally caught up with Jason and he did time in juvenile hall shortly after his release he would be arrested and brought back for similar crimes a cycle that would continue for much of Jason's life Jason commented on this part of his life in the letter saying being a thief and a liar fit nicely with my lack of self-worth my silent understanding that I was worthless a throwaway the foundations laid in my youth never went away they simply remained hidden in everything I chose to do was built on those thoughts and feelings from the past I'd started down a long winding path of deception and self-abuse by the time he was 20 years old Jason had spent over half of his adult life Behind Bars the time not spent in prison was occupied by drugs and dead-end jobs at 30 years old Jason decided a change of scenery might be what he needed to bring his life in order and he soon found himself back in his home state of Alaska for a while it seemed like life was improving but that wouldn't last Jason was Finding joy in the little things again and was able to support himself through a legitimate job unfortunately Jason lost the job a few months later and once again found himself resorting to Crime this would lead to a six-year prison sentence shortly followed by another three-year stand in prison when Jason was caught violating his parole after being released in the summer of 2016 Jason was once again aiming to live a humble and simple life but those plans changed when he began to hear rumors of men in his community who were taking advantage of children according to Jason hearing these rumors made him think back to his own horrific childhood and he felt the overwhelming urge to take matters into his own hands and hunt down the offenders in his area these actions inevitably led to Jason being caught it was eventually brought to the exact same Courthouse as monstra's stepfather was tried despite many louding Jason and calling his actions heroic he ended his letter by discouraging copycat Behavior stating if you've already lost your youth like me due to a child abuser please do not throw away your present and your future by committing acts of violence while it can be tempting to explain away Jason's violent actions because he was abused it's important to remember that many abuse victims don't go on to engage in criminal Behavior however being abused or neglected as a child can increase the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59 as an adult by 28 percent and for a violent crime by 30 percent many victims of abuse develop Revenge fantasies where they imagine themselves standing up to their abuser and fighting back in Jason's case these fantasies may have made him feel all-powerful or divinely righteous to the point that he felt he was capable of making these Revenge fantasies a reality by hunting down local offenders Not only was Jason able to get symbolic revenge against the man who hurt him but he was also able to help other children in the process by doing for them what he wished someone would have done for him while Jason may have been able to gain some catharsis for his trauma through this Revenge he paid the ultimate price for it and the days leading up to his official sentence saying Jason wrote another letter to the Anchorage Daily News this time detailing his life story explaining how he found himself in this situation and discouraging other victims of abuse from following in his steps he wrote to those who understand how it feels to live through abuse and carry it with you let me share my story in an effort to prevent its repetition much of the public was on Jason's side and they rallied for him to be given a light sentencing in the end Jason was given a plea deal that would reduce his charges he recounted how officials reacted to his plea deal um I wrote them an offer through the newspaper to the prosecutor's office and I told them I will plead guilty to any combination of charges you wish anything you want with the following caveat my sentence is to equal in length with each file served in prison for harming a child so the guy that his own daughter received two years in change I'll serve his two years and change the guy that was convicted of investing his 10 month old granddaughter got three years in prison I'll serve his three years so now we're at five years five and a half years the child prefer did two years or did a year in a program or something so I'll do his and I told them I'll even serve the three years in prison that you suspended for the monster that made me so I'll do nine years six months run that right now I'll sign I'll put you through whatever you want and of course they summarily laughed that offer out of the courtroom and said this is not how we conduct business in the state of Alaska he was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison Not only was the public opinion of Jason incredibly High but after being sent to prison Jason discovered that many of the guards and fellow prisoners also considered Jason a hero especially when his sentence was three times longer than the combined sentences of the men Jason assaulted while being processed into prison it was discovered that Jason was suffering from PTSD which he believes was a factor in his crimes research shows an association between being the victim of trauma especially chronic victimization and the later perpetration of a crime after serving the first four years of his sentence he attempted to appeal stating that his PTSD should have been taken into account during the sentencing process however this appeal was denied and his sister Angelina has taken to social media to advocate for her brother's Freedom she's also managed to gather over 27 000 signatures on a change.org petition calling for Jason's release speaking to Jason from prison he wanted to make one thing clear it's also important in sought out any sort of notoriety for this since being in prison he's reflected a lot not only on his own life but that of some of the people he's met Behind Bars in retrospect after being educated while being in here you realize that that childhood trauma is rocket fuel for everything disruptive that a person has in their life and no one tells you this and no one comes along and gives you any pointers or indications or anything you just you get jail sentences and people tell you you're bad and horrible and for me I was a thief and a liar for many years of my life you never start to think why started getting letters from people all over the world contrary to what you might think these were letters with high praise and accolades and hats on the back and things like that typically these letters were two or three or four page descriptions of people's pain and the suffering and the things they went through when they were a kid so I started realizing I wasn't alone while I've been in prison I have done informal surveys and I'm telling you the percentage is so high guys that end up leading a life of crime or drug addiction or demonstrate criminal Behavior it is so high like probably 70 or 80 percent of these guys suffered childhood trauma or abuse in my free time uh I do a lot of writing it was really cool it's just actually finished the book with Professor Joshua long at UMass in Boston we co-wrote a book together called Legacy of Retribution there's a guy named that runs a hardcore recovery coaching business and he's offered me a job as a recovery coach a trauma and addition recovery coach which is great probably to vote you know the meaningful portion of the rest of my life to doing some sort of lasting legislative Pursuit too to change some of the laws pertaining to child abuse certainly in my state maybe Nationwide would like to create an SOS app that allows kids to self-report abuse if they're suffering in the household and that to me seems like a huge missing component in our society and if that isn't a glaring you know issue I don't know what it is and people need to pay attention to that the justice system needs to be realigned Jason was granted parole at his hearing on April 10 2023 however in a seemingly unprecedented move his actual release date was set for April 11 2028. our most recent communication from Jason came in the form of a message on May 25th 2023 and reads as follows thanks for the kind message I appreciate the support also let everyone know that the book that I wrote with Professor long is available for pre-order on June 30th Barnes and Noble it's called avenging child abuse let me know if you want to do any follow-up conversations I'm just trying to come to terms with the whole decision and do my time as quietly as possible needless to say it was worth it to me then it's worth it to me now but you are correct this was a very very strange decision by the board no classes to take no further therapy available just more time required odd the circumstances of the five-year delay of Jason's release are unclear and seem to be based on the inner workings of Alaska's Perot system

Channel: EWU Crime Storytime

Views: 2,218,868

Keywords: documentary, true crime documentary, educational, psychology, analysis

Id: W4lM-ol9Ufs

Length: 35min 35sec (2135 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023