The story of John Djamelske, a rapist who kept his victims underground for years

The first victim of this serial rapist-abductor was a 14-year-old girl. She woke up naked on the concrete floor in a cramped room without windows, chained. The torturer explained that he had abducted her for sex. Then he raped the unfortunate woman every day for three years.

The girl was not the only victim at the hands of John Jamelske, one of the most terrible criminals in the United States. He intimidated his victims, threatening to kill their relatives and friends, so he remained unpunished for a long time. But the hour of reckoning has come.

The victims of John Djamelske were five girls and women. They were all of different races — a Latin American, an Indian woman, a native of Vietnam, as well as black and white Americans. It seemed that the pervert was collecting a collection of women. He turned them into sex slaves and kept them in a bunker in Syracuse, New York. The rapist was caught only in 2003.

In December 2020, after 17 years spent behind bars, the 85-year-old criminal for the first time had the right to request a pardon. His request for early release was rejected, and the next judicial review of his request for parole was postponed until December 2022. The victims hope for justice: they want their tormentor to be in prison for the rest of his life.

Djamelske lured his first victim into a car when she was walking with her friends. After that, the girl disappeared for several years. The abduction took place in September 1988 in Syracuse. So a 14-year-old schoolgirl fell into sex slavery to a rapist.

For a year, the pervert kept her in a cramped utility room, and then moved her to the basement. No one knew that a young prisoner was languishing at a meter depth behind a steel door. The bunker had only a mattress, a microwave, a small bathroom and a bucket instead of a toilet. The torturer forced the girl to write a letter to her parents saying that everything was fine with her, without mentioning the place where she was.

The poor schoolgirl's nightmare lasted three years. In the end, John Djamelske decided to let her go. In 1991, he took her to Lake Tahoe and left her near the airport. The girl at that time was already 17 years old.

Soon the rapist kidnapped the next victim, who was also only 14 years old. He put her in the same basement and bullied the unfortunate for 15 months. Then the pervert took the girl to her mother's house and threatened to kill her family if she told anyone about what had happened.

The next on the list of Dzhamelsk became a 53-year-old woman, whom he held for 10 months. In 2001, a pervert caught a 26-year-old girl walking down the street while under the influence of LSD. Waking up in a dark bunker, the American woman asked the tormentor to allow her to write to her family that she was all right. The criminal allowed it, but ordered to inform that she is in a rehabilitation center.

After 2.5 months, the rapist released the captive. Unlike the other victims, the woman went to the police, but no one believed her there.

After 15 years of atrocities, John Djamelske was stopped by the last victim. As before, he dragged a 16-year-old girl into the basement from the street. Remaining unpunished for so long, the criminal became so emboldened that he began to appear with his captive in crowded places. First they went to a karaoke bar, and a few days later to a bottle recycling center. It was there that the girl asked Djamelske to call the church, but in fact she contacted her sister and told about what had happened.

On the same day, the police raided the place where the rapist was hiding his victims. John Djamelske was immediately arrested, and the schoolgirl said that she had been in sex captivity for six months. In the criminal's house, the cops found mountains of empty cans and beer bottles. The girl who was abducted last reported details of the situation in the lair of her tormentor, which confirmed her testimony. Photos and videotapes with recordings of other victims who were afraid to contact the police earlier were also found at the crime scene.

John Djamelske was charged with five counts of kidnapping. He said that he decided to steal girls after his wife got cancer and couldn't have sex with him. The pervert believed that he would protect himself from sexually transmitted infections if he kept the victims captive. Jamelske's wife Dorothy died in 1999. It is still unclear whether she knew what was going on in their house.

The criminal apologized for his crimes in court, but no one believed in his sincerity. The judge called him a "sick coward" and a "master of manipulating people." The rapist was sentenced to 99 years behind bars, with the possibility of pardon after 18 years in prison. His property, worth about $ 1 million (about 76.4 million rubles), was confiscated and divided as payment of moral damages among the victims.

In 2004, in an interview, John Djamelske claimed that he did not realize what he was doing and considered himself a good person. He thought he deserved a more lenient punishment. In addition, the criminal denied that he chained his victims with chains.

After 18 years spent behind bars, John Djamelske applied for clemency for the first time in December last year. The Parole Board rejected his request after the prosecutor's appeal. He insisted that the criminal should be in prison after so much suffering inflicted on the victims.

The victims of the rapist hope that their tormentor will never be released again. The next time Djamelske will be able to apply for clemency in December 2022.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a serial killer who spent 45 years behind bars is asking for early release. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but he hopes to be released.