Eleven Minutes of Esther's Time

She left school that day shortly after 3pm, leaving the back doors of Jefferson Elementary school with her friend "Charity". Together they cut across the large field behind the school where they come to 6th street southeast. At that point they part ways, Charity heading east and Esther to the west. From there, Esther continues on alone eventually turning onto the street where she lives. She's just three houses from her own in front of her friend Daniel's house, 817 5th St SE, when she claims a man in brown truck stops his vehicle, turns it off gets out. He comes around the back side of his truck to where she stands waiting on the sidewalk. He picks her up with his hands under her arms says "gotch ya".

She tells the police that it was at 3:30pm, because it takes her a half hour to get home and she was almost there. She say she was taken right in front of her friend Daniel's house, with the big tree in front, and she later points it out to the police. The address was 831 5th Street southeast. Her mother also testifies that Esther usually gets home between 3:20 and 3:30, depending on whether or not she's with Charity when she leaves school. But her mother was working that day, her father was home watching Emma, Esther's new baby sister. Her father didn't notice what time she got home.

From 831 5th St SE, Esther says the man drove this route to Murphy Park.

Once at Murphy Park, the man parks his truck by the river and pulls her out the driver's side, carrying her back around the truck. They both undress part way, then he sits on her and has her bite his penis. They both dress, he then picks her up and carries her to the river where he opens his arms and lets her drop.

She stands up in this shallow part or the "near flood-level" river, and now the man is watching her from the side of the river. She tells him that if he will go away, she will drown for him. Then the river takes her away - but she grabs on to a log. The man is still watching, so she repeats her offer two more times before he leaves (heading westbound on Birch. She manages to pull herself from the river, and this is how she "tricked" him, she testifies later.

She then runs east along a narrow bike path that borders the Winnabago River for over half a mile until she reaches the home of Alan Shanks, who is out mowing his yard. She runs to him and tell him that someone tried to drown her and asks him to call her dad. She follows him into his house and waits in the corner while he calls 911.

Esther's Chronology

Alan Shanks' property

More "Memory" help for Esther.

On August 14 of 1991 Esther appears for her deposition with Sue Flander and Rosenbladt. This is her official statement since her video taped interview on May 30, 1991. In that first interview she described her assailants clothes as shown above, but says nothing of a belt or the brand of pants. These details play a pivotal role in the conviction ruling and denial of appeal later on (see below).

Then Sue Flander hands her all the pictures taken of Jason's basement bedroom to identify the clothes, and Esther intently studies them taking in every detail. She determines just from looking at them that he has a mind of a little boy (or was that because someone told her).

After seeing these pictures, the one's that helps her to remember what he was really wearing - her story changes on the day of the trial. On that day, she now testifies that his shirt was white and red, he was wearing "Lee's" jeans - just a few of the spot on details she never knew before she "saw".

Sue Flander does point out during the trial that she has changed her description of the color of his shirt from pink and blue - to white and red, but she does NOT point out where Esther got that information.. If she wanted to defend her client properly she should have done so because Judge Mackey uses the fact that her descriptions were so exact - to convict Jason.

Pages 42 - 46 of Esther's August 14, 1991 Deposition

Descriptions Given By Esther

The mysterious Charity would have been someone of interest too interview. This is a classmate who Esther claims she walked home with that day. When her mother is questioned at the post-convicton heartings, she states that she met Charity once (see Teresa Janssen). But when Esther's teacher (Patti Mueller) is interviewed by the private detective (James Mazour), the teacher claims there is no elementary student named Charity.

Esther claims that she gets in trouble when she walks home with Charity because Charity talks her into going places she's not suppose to. At the trial, Esther states she hasn't walked with Charity since that day because of this.

Charity would have been crucial to interview because of statements made to how long it took Esther to get home. And, if she actually exists or not.

Riddles

In going over these files in detail, it is my personal opinion that whatever happen with Esther cannot be even close to the "official story". (See below why the timeline isn't possible). There are many other things that stood out that made me question most of it. This is why I do not believe a child's statement should allowed to be the ONLY evidence used to convict a person.

Of ALL her statements, I only found two that appear to be factual. [1.] I believe that she did fall into the river, because there was a picture taken of her with wet clothes. [2.] That a brown truck was on her street more than once that week.

The River - This is the one thing that makes no sense to me - even though she was apparently wet when she arrived at Alan Shanks house. Firstly, the Winnebago River was near flood lever that day - and according to film footage taken the following day - it was a raging river right there at the bend where she left her backpack. Now - the Winnebago River flow EAST through Mason City, Iowa - meaning that it flow downstream from Alan Shanks' property. So Esther could not have been carried any distance at all that day or she would have been carried away from the Murphy Park area where she had put her backpack. That spot is already over a half mile away from Shanks' residence. She also states that her abductor carries her to the river (like a groom would carry a bride) then opens his arms and lets her drop - meaning he would have to be standing IN the water to do so. (Note: Jason's shoes and pants were dry). So, unless there was a shallow place along side the river, this is not possible. (See river footage) She also claims that while in the river she carries on a conversation with the man, and she goes into detail about hanging on to a log and then using a branch to pull her way out. None of this fits into the time frame (see below).

The Brown Truck - Esther states that a man in a brown truck had been watching her that week, and that on a day prior to the incident, he even rolled down his window and asked her a "riddle". On that particular day, two people from the street Esther lived on also made statements that they had seen a brown truck on the street. (tho they both stated it was before 3pm, when Jason would have still been at work) Being that Esther couldn't have arrived to the location she claims to have been taken from until 3:25, it seems odd that no one noticed a truck sitting there that long. But the description she gives of the truck is the ONLY part of her story that never changes - Wisconsin plates, no tail-gate and it's a king cab with little sideways seats behind the driver's seat (which does not match Jason's truck). The details of this truck also align with a "story" she claims the teacher had warned all the kids of at school that week. This story had apparently frightened Esther, because when she told the officers about shortly after the incident that day, she said in that story a little girl had died. Oddly enough, Jason's father spotted a truck in Mason City shortly after the incident that did match that description, and found out it belonged to someone named James Main of Racine, Wisconsin - who also owned property just outside of Mason City.

Notes:

It is not possible for this incident

to have taken place in the manner reported:

911 call came in at 3:41 - Esther reported she was taken at approx. 3:25-3:30 from in front of 817 5th St SE by a man who on previous days of this same week had told her riddles from his truck, but she had not told her parents of this because she kept forgetting to do so. On May 30, however, he stops he truck, turns it off, exits and comes around the rear of his vehicle and onto the sidewalk where she is. He picks her up under the arms and says "Gotcha". He then goes back around his truck carrying Esther, puts her in the drivers side, climbs in beside her and starts the truck. He then drives to isolated area off Birch Drive where he removes her from the truck and the assault takes place. They put back on their clothes and then he carries her to the river and "drops" her in a shallow enough area where she is able to stand up. To drop her the way she describes, he also would have to have been standing in the river getting at the very least - his shoes and pants wet and muddy. Then she is swept back in the river, going with the rushing water that flows to the east. At some point she grabs on to a log, then tells the man who is watching her that she will drown for him if he will go away. This is repeated two more times before he finally leaves. She states that he leaves going west back past Shanks house - how she sees this from the river is unquestionably miraculous. She pulls herself from the river and runs along the bike path west toward Shanks house - slightly over 1/2 mile away. She sees him out mowing his yard and tells him that someone tried to drown her. They go up to his house and she goes inside with him and he calls 911. Incredibly this entire incident takes place in 11-16 minutes from the time the man exits his truck to run over to the side walk to pick her up to the time the 911 call is received. So, minus the 5-6 minutes driving time, and 8-9 minute time for her to run over 1/2 mile after at least 5 minutes in the river - there is no time left for the assault to have taken place. So Stearns report suggests she was taken from directly behind the school (to make this whole thing possible, and the judge uses that same assumption in his ruling - because this is what Jason was instructed to say in his confession). It doesn't seem to matter that Esther states she was taken just four houses from her own - which is a half hour walk from her school that let out at 3:00. If she had been taken from the school as the court assumes - then her friend, Charity, would have witnessed this - because they walked most the way home together. Charity, of course, is never interviewed.

Whether Esther walked down to the river herself - or was taken there by someone, there is absolutely NO time for an assault to have taken place. There is also no time for any of the other claims made.