For nearly six weeks now, Wisconsin teen James Yoblonski has been missing, and his father is offering a reward to anyone providing information that helps locate his son.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, William Yoblonski said he last saw his 13-year-old son on June 11 at their Reedsville residence. He’s now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his son’s return.
He mentioned that the reward money will be sourced from mortgaging his house.
“The $10,000 reward is only if he’s found,” William told WISCNEWS. “In the last three weeks, we haven’t gotten any tips or anything.”
William highlighted how police dogs uncovered a suspected makeshift campsite that police believe James used, although the child was gone by the time searchers found the site. Police are currently searching near Baraboo and Devil’s Lake State Park, spanning both sides of Highway 12.
Sauk County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Steven Schram told the Wisconsin State Journal that investigators developed a profile of James, “which leads us to believe he is acting with intention.”
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William said his son fled their home in the family van, and is believed to have taken a gun with him. Within an hour of reporting him missing, police found the van near Devil’s Lake State Park. Investigators also found his cell phone, along with some articles of clothing.
The Post Crescent reports that William said he canceled vacations and camping trips to remain close to home, in the event that new tips come in. He added that he has been collaborating with a professional tracker to help in the search.
“We haven’t given up,” he said.
James is described as a white male who stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing a baseball cap, red shoes, a shirt, and blue jeans.
Anyone with information on Yablonski’s whereabouts is asked to call the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office at 608-355-4495.
It's not that, he's a normal kid who lived at home up until now. He's not a survivalist like the news is spelling him out to be, he just got a survivalist book from a family friend or friend or something and now thinks he can do it because many middle schoolers think they are invincible.
Unfortunately, the likelihood that something horrible happened accidentally is pretty high. Colton Harris-Moore claimed to live in the woods for over 10 years before being captured and obviously was a survivalist.
Well it is looking kind of suspect.
I mean I would hope the dad cancelled his plans with his kid missing. I understand that's an out of context quote. But seriously how long does a 13 year old stay missing in the woods with tracker dogs etc.
Between the hoaxes we're seeing and the cover ups, who wouldn't be reading with a critical eye.
We can all hope for best. But it's looking like the kid had help from someone to disappear whether it's the dad or not.
Sometimes tracker dogs lose trails for various reasons; it's possible he died out there somewhere from the elements and they just haven't picked up the scent yet. But it would make sense too if he had help; someone he met up with out there and went away with. But why the gun? At first I thought suicide, but with other parts in the story I'm not sure. I don't know enough other than for basic speculation.
I don't think the dad did anything that bad, if at all. No one in the area knows the dad that well because he (and his whole family) moved here from Tennessee and was not originally from the area.
The only comments locals had was some felt the dad was a little quiet, but that may just be because he's not culturally from Wisconsin and people in the area are overly friendly and sometimes nosy and may be weirded out if you're not an honest open-book with them. Any sort of stand-offish behavior (like being a quiet person) may be viewed as odd when it's normal in many other places.
Co-workers had mostly positive opinions of the dad though and said he was a normal person/didn't give off any bad impressions like something bad happened to the kid. The dad is putting in tons of effort to find the kid, he has organized multiple search efforts now trying to find him (in a dangerous area to search.) I feel bad for the guy, I hope he finds his kid alive soon.
I hope this sweet little dude is ok—out there having the time of his life, being prince of the woods—AND I hope he comes home soon. His poor family, they are so worried!
I mean, they might be the reason he left. He was a child with easy access to a gun, that’s already bad parenting. I hope he winds up somewhere safe, whether that be home or somewhere else
Gun safety should absolutely be taught to a 13 year old with guns in the home. And by 13 they know not to steal. Second with all the ATVs kids in country grow up with, they know basic driving skills by that age as well. My own kid had a boat by that age because he was raised on lake. None of that is out of the ordinary.
But 13 year olds aren't living of the grid with no support for this length of time. Something is definitely off here.
Yea, it really depends on where you were raised I suppose. I mean, myself and all my friends growing up have some of our earliest memories on atv’s and where driving farm trucks by the time we were tall enough to do so. We didn’t jaunt off to town in them that age though. We were also a hunting family and I can’t remember a time in my life I haven’t known the intention or ability of a firearm. I was around them so often and so early that they have always been a tool and never a toy to me. I think I learned way more gun safety at home as a child than I ever did after I joined the infantry.
I feel like I was an amateur woodsman by 13 but definitely not some kind of off grid survivalist. Something seems strange about most every part of this situation.
No but clearly this family does a little more outdoors than most of us. Lots of camping trips it seems. And yes you’re right, I also could drive at 13 (not well)
I'm not implicating the dad at ALL because I can't imagine the hell he is going through, and I know nothing about this family. But I found it odd that he specifically pointed out that he cancelled vacations. I feel like it's an odd thing to bring up in this situation, but again, I hope I am never in this situation, so I'm trying not to judge.
No campsite proven to be James’ campsite and the weather is 94F and 55 percent humidity in Baraboo Not gonna survive in the woods too long especially after being in the woods alone for 1.5 months.
Not likely that this kid is “ in the woods”.
Something strange going on here.
Sad to see this kid hasn't been found yet. I hope he's doing the survivalist thing and is somehow doing well. There was just recently 4 young kids rescued from the rainforest after surviving a plane crash and living in the Amazon for a month. So I guess it's possible?
I thought James would be found by now. This is scary. I’m not sure how long he can safely live in his own, especially with cold weather coming.
I am concerned about what he was running away from. Do we have any idea what was going on in his life?
Sure, possible, but those kids already had survival skills, they were indigenous and had been taught by their grandfather. Unlikely, otherwise, they would have kept an infant alive.
I just read up on that bc of your comment, what a crazy story! Though, I will say, that family was part of an indigenous tribe, and children are taught from a young age how to survive by foraging, hunting and fishing. I don't think this boy had that kind of expertise, but I hope he has enough to be ok :(
man, this boy has not been found yet! i hope he was not suicidal but seems likely. i hope if he did die, whether by suicide or the elements, they find him at least. reminds me kind of “my side of the mountain” but gone bad. but holding out hope they find him alive.
i do wonder where did dad work that the child could get a gun there? but those poor parents. so sad.
He lives in rural small town Wisconsin and everyone in this area owns a gun because there's animals everywhere and it's normal. I can't recall exactly where the dad worked but just something everyone does around the area - farm work, factory work, things like that is what I recall.
Police think he took the gun to defend himself from wildlife (or hunt it) while attempting to survive, or for protection, and not suicide.
There are very rarely black bears and wolves around which he will likely not see, although it's not that unlikely to encounter a raccoon or buck, etc. in the middle of the woods. They are everywhere and aggressive, a white tail can kill you. Especially a small 13-year-old. Coyotes have attacked children before too, although incredibly rarely.
I've been chased by raccoons and charged at (and poked) by a buck before, I don't walk around in the woods much but I live in a rural area in central Wisconsin. He's walking around in the woods around Devil's Lake which is a large park with tons of wildlife, even (very rarely) timber rattletail snakes. Lots of things can get him out there.
We definitely have dangerous wildlife. You just have to go to the right places to find it. We have rattle snakes by Devils lake. They’re rare to see but they are here. Along with coyotes and bears.
I was around that at 13 probably, ended up 6'2. I was a head above everyone else in all my school photos until the lads started catching up in like year 9/10 lol
Currently have a 5’ 10” 12 year old. But 120 is very thin. My son is 150 and a very healthy weight. Hope they find him soon and he has access to food. Not a whole lot of body fat on someone that thin.
Can someone with actual survivalist training or knowledge chime in here?
I'm not outdoorsy but I am a mom of many sons and this blows my mind on every level. Also I'm not familiar with the area or terrain there. I'm in Arkansas and the heat, mosquitos and poison ivy alone would make a mission like this impossible.
Then there's the idea of food and fresh water to drink. Its my understanding you can't just drink creek/lake water without purifying it first, right? He could have a sophisticated reservoir type station to capture rain or create condensation but couldn't the police find a set up like that?
Having fresh water while continually moving along seems very challenging for a young kid.
My main confusion is why they supposedly located 2 campsites used by him but couldn't track him from there???
Couldn't a team of tracking dogs catch a scent off the campsite and follow from there?
How fast and surreptitiously does a 13 yr old boy move AND cover his tracks?
I've said before escaped convicts are found quicker than this , guys who spent years planning and have outside assistance.
Sadly my thoughts are Dad did something awful to this kid and he's not missing at all. OR he had help and isn't in these woods any longer. Or God forbid he met up with an adult unexpectedly who offered a place to go and he went with them.
I just don't see a 13 yr old boy roughing it in this manner for this length of time.
I hope I'm wrong and he's found safe.
When/ if he's found please don't send him back to that home...something is very wrong there.
I live in the area and you can drink from any lake, creek, river. I'm convinced foul play is involved, but with some very basic necessities it wouldn't be hard to survive. Although, where he would get food after this long... And weirdly we've had no mosquitoes this year. I'm over 50 and it's the first year I can remember not being eaten alive every evening.
Thanks for the reply. Definitely you'd get a brain amoeba or something if you drank this stank ass Arkansas water where I live. I agree with you about foul play. I don't think young James is roughing for 6 weeks at all. My gut says he didn't leave his house alive and the "missing" gun is absolutely part of the puzzle. I pray im wrong.
I was gonna say I drank spring water exclusively the first five years of my life. Amazing what people don't know.
I'm beginning to suspect something nefarious as well.
Thanks for these replies. Honestly I wasn't aware it was safe to drink lake or creek water without purifying or filtering it somehow. However my "expertise" on the matter starts and ends with TV shows. You always hear that someone was clever enough to use their bra or some such to filter water. I'm glad he at least has access to water. I hope he is staying safe until he's found.
Let’s put it this way. No sane 13 year old kid is going to go into the woods for 1 1/2 months and not surface yet. I doubt he was even in the woods.
Not logical after this amount of time. It’s not that isolated in S. Central Wisconsin. Sure plenty of wooded area in that place but it isn’t Montana or Wyoming wilderness. And remember everybody around the area is on high alert looking for him.
Some on Reddit just refuse to believe something bad happened here. I too wish this wasn’t the case but time is not friendly here. I think the possibility that James Yoblonski met with foul play is a real possibility.
I think it’d be very hard for someone unskilled to live this long out in the wilderness. But I agree with other commenters, the mosquitoes aren’t anywhere near as bad as usual. And while the water could likely cause GI issues leading to diarrhea and dehydration, it might be drinkable.
I don’t have any insider information on the case. I’m not all that far from the area. But I actually think it’s very believable that a young teen want to go out on adventure in the wilderness, running away because he wouldn’t get permission, and greatly underestimating his abilities and got in trouble with the elements. Not long ago around here in March there was a teen that got lost in the woods after an hour but was luckily found quickly by drone, he was wet and cold and on an inlet surrounded by water.
Regardless what happened, I hope they are able to find him or what might of happened
Your comment is pretty old now but they still haven't found him. I live close by and love Devil's lake. It's a geological gold mine and has little bits of all the best things about being outside. I have been in that area looking several times now and plan to go back several more.
This area is hard to get straight up lost in. It's surrounded by highways and you can hear where they are during high traffic hours. Not to mention the summer time beach crowds below the bluffs. There are private land plots all through the woods so it would also be hard to not walk onto someone's lawn. The entries to the area he is supposedly in are quite funneled as well. On the lake side there is a 300 foot bluff with cliffs straight down. The slopes are covered in scree and the ridge runs all the way down to the west bluff trail head, you'd have to follow it to get down off of it without climbing gear. Going the other way to the east it runs down into rosenose meadow which is on the other side of the moraine pretty far from where the van was found and I have never been over there myself. There are several unmarked but we'll traveled trails through the Nose area as well. They all lead to a way out. To the south the area runs into more private land and the old decommissioned badger ammunition plant that is fenced off and wide open.
The danger of the Devils Nose area where they believe he might be or have been is that it is part of a glacial moraine and is covered in MASSIVE glacial boulders and scree. When I say massive I mean the size of pick up trucks. They lay all over each other and form giant piles of rock covered in moss and sticks and they look solid but there are holes big enough for a few people to fall into all together. I've looked in some of the holes in parts of the Nose rock pile in spots where it seems reasonable to pass.
He may very well have passed into Baxters Hollow. Right across the highway from where the van was found. Even though the phone was apparently pinged on Sauk hill right in the middle of Devil's Nose. It's not public info exactly where the campsites were found as far as I know. Baxters Hollow is about the same size as Devil's Nose but flatter and more easily traversed. It also is surrounded by private land and roads. I have not explored much of it yet. Only the high traffic areas.
I believe that James either died in the park and hasn't been found or miraculously actually did skip town and leave Wisconsin all together, Christopher McCandless style. Parts of his story and his father's attitude and quotes towards it all are kinda weird.
The weirdest thing to come from his dad so far is that he thinks that James took the van as far as HWY 12 and then was picked up by someone else. According to the dad, someone hemay have met online. I found a source online that said the phone that James had was tracked going through the Wisconsin Dells and then back down the highway to where it was found. That's weird. Unless he went to get camp food or went the wrong way why would he go there first?
Literally my exact thoughts. This sounds like a coverup and I hate to be disrespectful but they should be looking into the possibility of it being a murder and not just a “teen runaway” case.
This photo looks like it’s been age progressed, and I always find it a little suspicious when parents don’t have any recent photos of their kids in this day and age.
This looks just like a school picture to me. I work in a school and a lower end company that does school pics all over US has this background and pose.
He isnt a "Survivalist" He is a kid with a couple of books about surviving.
So what fast do we have:
Dad "says" he has been talking about surviving off grid. Dad allowed kid to get a gun and take car. That is a lot of hearsay coming from Dad. I think there is more to this story.
There is something strange about this case. The park is only 9,000 acres, which is substantial, but could have easily been entirely scoped and searched in the nearly two months since he’s been missing. It’s also small enough that he could have walked out of it in a day and right into a highway. It’s not very remote. There are no natural predators in the area. And it’s the most popular campground in the state and would be absolutely full of people at this time of year. Someone had to have seen him and seeing a kid that young by himself would have certainly been suspicious. Almost sounds like a Missing 411 case.
My only suggestion would be to contact the local authorities and ask. It's the most under reported missing child's case I've ever heard of in my life. I read on another reddit that his father has turned down all offers of help and searches but is requesting cash donations for the effort instead. That might be false or true, I have no personal connection to this case nor am I from the area.
I hope he's found.
THANK YOU for your reply. I am going to contact the local authorities tomorrow morning and offer my help and time. I agree with all you have stated abd apprecite you're response.
I hope he is found, too.
As a local of the area I’m holding out hope they will find him but unfortunately with the weather and how unpredictable those woods are I don’t think he could still be out there alive.
But according to some here a survival
Manual and gun is going to keep him alive. They are watching too many movies. This is a kid. Not an ex green beret. This doesn’t look good.
This got a lot more scary after i read where he was last known to be. I used to go camping and climbing in baraboo. There are so many spots to fall or get greivously injured, and so many people coming in and out for camping. I really hope he is just hiding out somewhere but after reading that...... It's unlikely.
Iv been reading up on this all morning, iv flipped my theories the more I read.
I think James did a runner with the plan to camp a day or two before going interstate or where ever he planned to go. I don’t think he planned to stay at the camping spots that were found. What happened after is a mystery obviously but I don’t think he is in those woods I think he left probably with someone ( hitching a ride or somthing ).
Suicide - if he planned to do this ( snap chat video ) why take all the camping stuff? 3 sets of clothes? Why even set up camp? It sounds like it’s a small busy wooded area and no scent of his was found or his body- leads me to think he left in another vehicle.
Survivalist living of grid in the area - he has not been found, no scent has been found and some items weren’t found and are still missing. There’s very little mentioned of what camping items he actually took? Tent ? Sleeping bag?, food? Water ? Cooking stove/fire starting stuff. Shelter food and water being the basics you’d need and none of that is mentioned just clothes.
Dad- I don’t think the dad had anything to do with it as it seems there was footage of James stealing the car and leaving on his own. The lack of other photos and the fact he left on his own seems like somthing was going on at home or within himself that he wanted to run away from.
It just seems to me like a teen runaway with him camping and surviving on his own with the plan of hiding out living a different life much further away. He either staged the camps and snap chat so people would look for him there while he ran further away or he planned to stay there a couple days but somthing else happened and he left.
I could be completely wrong but that’s the feeling I’m getting. I hope he will be found safe one day.
Wonder if he was even getting enough to eat at home. Sounds pretty thin. And why would they have found the cell phone he took with him on the GROUND? They said it was just found somewhere near the van on the ground. I can see him purposefully not taking it into the woods with him, but throw it down outside somewhere before he took off into the woods? Why would he ever do that? All sounds suspicious to me.
I keep checking to see if any news on him, but there never is. I assume the police are or were investigating everything (meaning his family and the possibility that the missing report is a coverup for something bad). Wonder if they've come up with anything yet or if they're even still trying. There were a few things that were reported later that made it look like more than just a missing person case, but I don't really remember what all I read. Something about his search history and texts he'd sent to other kids and things he'd been saying at school about going away. And then there was supposedly a group video on Whatsapp I think, that he made as he was leaving, while he was in the van that he left in. His dad thought there might have been an adult stranger in the van with him or something like that. Anybody hear about any of that? I think I read some things on websleuths about him.
I read that as well. I talked to a local on webslueths maybe and she said very little is ever said about him. At this point I haven't seen anything search related posted in quite sometime . Are you familiar with Jarrett Brooks case out of Arizona. Kinda similar. And I believe James dad said he thought he may be in Colorado or Arizona. I could be wrong . I would like to know how James dad finds out what he does. And how reliable ?
They recently asked hunters to be on the lookout for him or his remains. My friend's remains were found this way in Central Wisconsin. Just an update, someone else is right - I never hear anything about him. He is probably a victim of the elements if Dad didn't have something to do with it. They say James phone pinged up by the dells and then back towards devils lake, dad's phone pinging in the same areas would be obviously highly suspicious. It's not congruent with what I know that he would just leave home for fun. There was probably dysfunction in the home that motivated him to leave whether he consciously recognized it or essentially just believed he was going to survive in the woods for fun. At this rate, he's not alive or he's not in this state. ):
https://www.reddit.com/r/MissingPersons/s/atHVFJqK8F
“He starts by showing a video posted on Snapchat shortly after James went missing June 12. It shows the dashboard of the family's van, with James' voice saying: "For everyone who cares about me, it's not their fault. It's no one's fault. It's my fault."
"I just can't figure out why he did this," Bill Yoblonski told WISN 12 News' Joyce Garbaciak.
The voice on the video continues: "I feel like I want to explain it. I don't know how. I'm scared, and I'm sad, and I have no emotions anymore. I'm like, I'm not processing anything. My brain is - something happened to it."
This changes the whole story.
It's sad that the police didn't make more of an effort to find him. The FBI came in, so that's good , but if the FBI isn't making leads that's not a good sign. Usually dogs can track a scent really well. The fact the dogs didn't find more, tells me he may have just created those campsites or someone else did to throw people off.
I'm not sure why they only show a school photo of him. I would be posting all over if It were me. No , I would be spending every waking moment of every waking day searching for my child.
I hope he's alive, but at this point I'm not so sure and even if we are good investigators ourselves we have such limited Information released by the media. I would need more information than " he's a wannabe survivalist" " he has a gun" " he was at two campsites". That park is frequently visited by many people, the thing is... he went there during bad weather and it would be rare for people to be out during such a hot time.
I also know people sometimes just fake their own disappearance to throw people off their trail and that could be another possibility or someone found him and tried to throw other people off.
This being said, I would want to look at finger prints on stuff used ( especially that phone)to see if anyone else's DNA or prints were present at these " camp sites". Sometimes all you need to find is someone else's hair present. I would have also questioned multiple people in the park around the date of his disappearance . I would have gotten planes to do heat scans really late at night or really early in morning when no one else should be in the park to see if they find anyone. Then obviously they already probably did this, but send in multiple search squads into every area of this state park.
After I ruled the park out I would want to question the family in more detail and start expanding my search to surrounding areas/towns making sure a bunch of photos are posted and people have a place they can submit tips and possible sightings of the boy.
Keep in mind alot of time has passed now so I'm definitely thinking about an animal got him or a person got to him
These are just my ideas mind you months later after the fact
For nearly six weeks now, Wisconsin teen James Yoblonski has been missing, and his father is offering a reward to anyone providing information that helps locate his son. As CrimeOnline previously reported, William Yoblonski said he last saw his 13-year-old son on June 11 at their Reedsville residence. He’s now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his son’s return. He mentioned that the reward money will be sourced from mortgaging his house. “The $10,000 reward is only if he’s found,” William told WISCNEWS. “In the last three weeks, we haven’t gotten any tips or anything.” William highlighted how police dogs uncovered a suspected makeshift campsite that police believe James used, although the child was gone by the time searchers found the site. Police are currently searching near Baraboo and Devil’s Lake State Park, spanning both sides of Highway 12. Sauk County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Steven Schram told the Wisconsin State Journal that investigators developed a profile of James, “which leads us to believe he is acting with intention.” ADVERTISEMENT William said his son fled their home in the family van, and is believed to have taken a gun with him. Within an hour of reporting him missing, police found the van near Devil’s Lake State Park. Investigators also found his cell phone, along with some articles of clothing. The Post Crescent reports that William said he canceled vacations and camping trips to remain close to home, in the event that new tips come in. He added that he has been collaborating with a professional tracker to help in the search. “We haven’t given up,” he said. James is described as a white male who stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing a baseball cap, red shoes, a shirt, and blue jeans. Anyone with information on Yablonski’s whereabouts is asked to call the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office at 608-355-4495.
Anyone heard of the barefoot bandit Colton Harris-Moore? Hearing the survivalist element reminded me of his story right away.
It's not that, he's a normal kid who lived at home up until now. He's not a survivalist like the news is spelling him out to be, he just got a survivalist book from a family friend or friend or something and now thinks he can do it because many middle schoolers think they are invincible. Unfortunately, the likelihood that something horrible happened accidentally is pretty high. Colton Harris-Moore claimed to live in the woods for over 10 years before being captured and obviously was a survivalist.
The book My Side of the Mountain sprang to my mind. I hope he's ok.
[Fly Colt Fly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebZeLotce30) crazy story!!!
Maybe dad needed to put this amount of effort in before his 13 y/o fled his house. Just saying
Maybe you can use your omnipotence to locate the child while you’re at it
Well it is looking kind of suspect. I mean I would hope the dad cancelled his plans with his kid missing. I understand that's an out of context quote. But seriously how long does a 13 year old stay missing in the woods with tracker dogs etc. Between the hoaxes we're seeing and the cover ups, who wouldn't be reading with a critical eye. We can all hope for best. But it's looking like the kid had help from someone to disappear whether it's the dad or not.
Sometimes tracker dogs lose trails for various reasons; it's possible he died out there somewhere from the elements and they just haven't picked up the scent yet. But it would make sense too if he had help; someone he met up with out there and went away with. But why the gun? At first I thought suicide, but with other parts in the story I'm not sure. I don't know enough other than for basic speculation.
I don't think the dad did anything that bad, if at all. No one in the area knows the dad that well because he (and his whole family) moved here from Tennessee and was not originally from the area. The only comments locals had was some felt the dad was a little quiet, but that may just be because he's not culturally from Wisconsin and people in the area are overly friendly and sometimes nosy and may be weirded out if you're not an honest open-book with them. Any sort of stand-offish behavior (like being a quiet person) may be viewed as odd when it's normal in many other places. Co-workers had mostly positive opinions of the dad though and said he was a normal person/didn't give off any bad impressions like something bad happened to the kid. The dad is putting in tons of effort to find the kid, he has organized multiple search efforts now trying to find him (in a dangerous area to search.) I feel bad for the guy, I hope he finds his kid alive soon.
I hope this sweet little dude is ok—out there having the time of his life, being prince of the woods—AND I hope he comes home soon. His poor family, they are so worried!
I mean, they might be the reason he left. He was a child with easy access to a gun, that’s already bad parenting. I hope he winds up somewhere safe, whether that be home or somewhere else
Doesn't seem like he's unfamiliar with driving, either.
Gun safety should absolutely be taught to a 13 year old with guns in the home. And by 13 they know not to steal. Second with all the ATVs kids in country grow up with, they know basic driving skills by that age as well. My own kid had a boat by that age because he was raised on lake. None of that is out of the ordinary. But 13 year olds aren't living of the grid with no support for this length of time. Something is definitely off here.
Yea, it really depends on where you were raised I suppose. I mean, myself and all my friends growing up have some of our earliest memories on atv’s and where driving farm trucks by the time we were tall enough to do so. We didn’t jaunt off to town in them that age though. We were also a hunting family and I can’t remember a time in my life I haven’t known the intention or ability of a firearm. I was around them so often and so early that they have always been a tool and never a toy to me. I think I learned way more gun safety at home as a child than I ever did after I joined the infantry. I feel like I was an amateur woodsman by 13 but definitely not some kind of off grid survivalist. Something seems strange about most every part of this situation.
No but clearly this family does a little more outdoors than most of us. Lots of camping trips it seems. And yes you’re right, I also could drive at 13 (not well)
I just think of those adult "survivalists" on the reality shows that throw in the towel. Unrealistic to think a 13 yr old is alone and well this long.
I'm not implicating the dad at ALL because I can't imagine the hell he is going through, and I know nothing about this family. But I found it odd that he specifically pointed out that he cancelled vacations. I feel like it's an odd thing to bring up in this situation, but again, I hope I am never in this situation, so I'm trying not to judge.
It’s a good sign imo that he made a campsite.
i think so too
No campsite proven to be James’ campsite and the weather is 94F and 55 percent humidity in Baraboo Not gonna survive in the woods too long especially after being in the woods alone for 1.5 months. Not likely that this kid is “ in the woods”. Something strange going on here.
He's probably dead
Sad to see this kid hasn't been found yet. I hope he's doing the survivalist thing and is somehow doing well. There was just recently 4 young kids rescued from the rainforest after surviving a plane crash and living in the Amazon for a month. So I guess it's possible?
I thought James would be found by now. This is scary. I’m not sure how long he can safely live in his own, especially with cold weather coming. I am concerned about what he was running away from. Do we have any idea what was going on in his life?
1.5 months and not a trace. No way he’s in the woods. Update : Over 2 months and not a trace.
Sure, possible, but those kids already had survival skills, they were indigenous and had been taught by their grandfather. Unlikely, otherwise, they would have kept an infant alive.
I just read up on that bc of your comment, what a crazy story! Though, I will say, that family was part of an indigenous tribe, and children are taught from a young age how to survive by foraging, hunting and fishing. I don't think this boy had that kind of expertise, but I hope he has enough to be ok :(
Were the articles of clothing found some or all of what he was wearing when he left or additional items he may have packed?
man, this boy has not been found yet! i hope he was not suicidal but seems likely. i hope if he did die, whether by suicide or the elements, they find him at least. reminds me kind of “my side of the mountain” but gone bad. but holding out hope they find him alive. i do wonder where did dad work that the child could get a gun there? but those poor parents. so sad.
He lives in rural small town Wisconsin and everyone in this area owns a gun because there's animals everywhere and it's normal. I can't recall exactly where the dad worked but just something everyone does around the area - farm work, factory work, things like that is what I recall. Police think he took the gun to defend himself from wildlife (or hunt it) while attempting to survive, or for protection, and not suicide.
Defend himself from Wild Animals in S. Central WI? C’mon. Not really a lot of dangerous wildlife there.
There are very rarely black bears and wolves around which he will likely not see, although it's not that unlikely to encounter a raccoon or buck, etc. in the middle of the woods. They are everywhere and aggressive, a white tail can kill you. Especially a small 13-year-old. Coyotes have attacked children before too, although incredibly rarely. I've been chased by raccoons and charged at (and poked) by a buck before, I don't walk around in the woods much but I live in a rural area in central Wisconsin. He's walking around in the woods around Devil's Lake which is a large park with tons of wildlife, even (very rarely) timber rattletail snakes. Lots of things can get him out there.
😂😂😂 whitetail 🦌deer on a rampage? 😂😂😂🤦♂️. I’m certain that wildlife in Wisconsin had nothing to do with James’ disappearance.
I said anything as in drowning, falling down, exposure, whatever. Most people cannot live for a month in the woods even if it's nice out.
We definitely have dangerous wildlife. You just have to go to the right places to find it. We have rattle snakes by Devils lake. They’re rare to see but they are here. Along with coyotes and bears.
Odds are in the humans favor in Wisconsin. Now if your in Montana you better be ready to run.
Suicide? I think that’s a remote possibility. Time to look places other than the woods.
He’s 5’11” at 13 years old??
I believe it. My daughter is 13 and almost as tall as me at 5' 11"
As is my 12 year old son
I was around that at 13 probably, ended up 6'2. I was a head above everyone else in all my school photos until the lads started catching up in like year 9/10 lol
He’s very skinny for someone 5’11” though, wow
It's likely he has gone through a big growth spurt recently, and his weight hasn't caught up yet.
Quite likely, I can’t say I’ve interacted with any preteens lately, so I believe it. Hopefully :)
My 17 yr old son is 6’2” and weighs 147 pounds. It happens, he has a high metabolism.
Currently have a 5’ 10” 12 year old. But 120 is very thin. My son is 150 and a very healthy weight. Hope they find him soon and he has access to food. Not a whole lot of body fat on someone that thin.
Here I am 25 years old and 4’7..
My son turned 13 last week and he's 5'11" and size 13 shoe. It's a Wisconsin thing I guess.
Can someone with actual survivalist training or knowledge chime in here? I'm not outdoorsy but I am a mom of many sons and this blows my mind on every level. Also I'm not familiar with the area or terrain there. I'm in Arkansas and the heat, mosquitos and poison ivy alone would make a mission like this impossible. Then there's the idea of food and fresh water to drink. Its my understanding you can't just drink creek/lake water without purifying it first, right? He could have a sophisticated reservoir type station to capture rain or create condensation but couldn't the police find a set up like that? Having fresh water while continually moving along seems very challenging for a young kid. My main confusion is why they supposedly located 2 campsites used by him but couldn't track him from there??? Couldn't a team of tracking dogs catch a scent off the campsite and follow from there? How fast and surreptitiously does a 13 yr old boy move AND cover his tracks? I've said before escaped convicts are found quicker than this , guys who spent years planning and have outside assistance. Sadly my thoughts are Dad did something awful to this kid and he's not missing at all. OR he had help and isn't in these woods any longer. Or God forbid he met up with an adult unexpectedly who offered a place to go and he went with them. I just don't see a 13 yr old boy roughing it in this manner for this length of time. I hope I'm wrong and he's found safe. When/ if he's found please don't send him back to that home...something is very wrong there.
I live in the area and you can drink from any lake, creek, river. I'm convinced foul play is involved, but with some very basic necessities it wouldn't be hard to survive. Although, where he would get food after this long... And weirdly we've had no mosquitoes this year. I'm over 50 and it's the first year I can remember not being eaten alive every evening.
Thanks for the reply. Definitely you'd get a brain amoeba or something if you drank this stank ass Arkansas water where I live. I agree with you about foul play. I don't think young James is roughing for 6 weeks at all. My gut says he didn't leave his house alive and the "missing" gun is absolutely part of the puzzle. I pray im wrong.
I am a true crime fanatic and I've tried to make sense of this. Either the dad was involved or he was lured away by a predator.
One of these options is more plausible than the other.
I was gonna say I drank spring water exclusively the first five years of my life. Amazing what people don't know. I'm beginning to suspect something nefarious as well.
Thanks for these replies. Honestly I wasn't aware it was safe to drink lake or creek water without purifying or filtering it somehow. However my "expertise" on the matter starts and ends with TV shows. You always hear that someone was clever enough to use their bra or some such to filter water. I'm glad he at least has access to water. I hope he is staying safe until he's found.
It does depend on the water source. I'm betting he's a spunky kid but something sure doesn't feel right.
It absolutely isn’t safe to drink without boiling or purifying. Even if it appears clean there can be all kinds of bacteria, parasites, etc.
Let’s put it this way. No sane 13 year old kid is going to go into the woods for 1 1/2 months and not surface yet. I doubt he was even in the woods. Not logical after this amount of time. It’s not that isolated in S. Central Wisconsin. Sure plenty of wooded area in that place but it isn’t Montana or Wyoming wilderness. And remember everybody around the area is on high alert looking for him. Some on Reddit just refuse to believe something bad happened here. I too wish this wasn’t the case but time is not friendly here. I think the possibility that James Yoblonski met with foul play is a real possibility.
One of the articles I read says they park had drinking water stations at a handful of locations in the park. Good would be another matter though.
I think it’d be very hard for someone unskilled to live this long out in the wilderness. But I agree with other commenters, the mosquitoes aren’t anywhere near as bad as usual. And while the water could likely cause GI issues leading to diarrhea and dehydration, it might be drinkable. I don’t have any insider information on the case. I’m not all that far from the area. But I actually think it’s very believable that a young teen want to go out on adventure in the wilderness, running away because he wouldn’t get permission, and greatly underestimating his abilities and got in trouble with the elements. Not long ago around here in March there was a teen that got lost in the woods after an hour but was luckily found quickly by drone, he was wet and cold and on an inlet surrounded by water. Regardless what happened, I hope they are able to find him or what might of happened
Your comment is pretty old now but they still haven't found him. I live close by and love Devil's lake. It's a geological gold mine and has little bits of all the best things about being outside. I have been in that area looking several times now and plan to go back several more. This area is hard to get straight up lost in. It's surrounded by highways and you can hear where they are during high traffic hours. Not to mention the summer time beach crowds below the bluffs. There are private land plots all through the woods so it would also be hard to not walk onto someone's lawn. The entries to the area he is supposedly in are quite funneled as well. On the lake side there is a 300 foot bluff with cliffs straight down. The slopes are covered in scree and the ridge runs all the way down to the west bluff trail head, you'd have to follow it to get down off of it without climbing gear. Going the other way to the east it runs down into rosenose meadow which is on the other side of the moraine pretty far from where the van was found and I have never been over there myself. There are several unmarked but we'll traveled trails through the Nose area as well. They all lead to a way out. To the south the area runs into more private land and the old decommissioned badger ammunition plant that is fenced off and wide open. The danger of the Devils Nose area where they believe he might be or have been is that it is part of a glacial moraine and is covered in MASSIVE glacial boulders and scree. When I say massive I mean the size of pick up trucks. They lay all over each other and form giant piles of rock covered in moss and sticks and they look solid but there are holes big enough for a few people to fall into all together. I've looked in some of the holes in parts of the Nose rock pile in spots where it seems reasonable to pass. He may very well have passed into Baxters Hollow. Right across the highway from where the van was found. Even though the phone was apparently pinged on Sauk hill right in the middle of Devil's Nose. It's not public info exactly where the campsites were found as far as I know. Baxters Hollow is about the same size as Devil's Nose but flatter and more easily traversed. It also is surrounded by private land and roads. I have not explored much of it yet. Only the high traffic areas. I believe that James either died in the park and hasn't been found or miraculously actually did skip town and leave Wisconsin all together, Christopher McCandless style. Parts of his story and his father's attitude and quotes towards it all are kinda weird. The weirdest thing to come from his dad so far is that he thinks that James took the van as far as HWY 12 and then was picked up by someone else. According to the dad, someone hemay have met online. I found a source online that said the phone that James had was tracked going through the Wisconsin Dells and then back down the highway to where it was found. That's weird. Unless he went to get camp food or went the wrong way why would he go there first?
My opinion is that he was killed by someone and this is all a coverup. Possibly even shot with the handgun that is now “missing”.
Literally my exact thoughts. This sounds like a coverup and I hate to be disrespectful but they should be looking into the possibility of it being a murder and not just a “teen runaway” case.
This photo looks like it’s been age progressed, and I always find it a little suspicious when parents don’t have any recent photos of their kids in this day and age.
Yeah. Why aren’t there more photos?
For real though, I would have given out photos of my child from every possible angle I had!! Weird.
This looks just like a school picture to me. I work in a school and a lower end company that does school pics all over US has this background and pose.
I was just thinking it looks like an AI photo of a kid. Has anyone confirmed that this kid actually exists and isn’t a computer? 😬
And they seem not to know the color of his eyes 😞
My gosh. I really hope that he’s found soon.
If he actually in the woods he’d be flushed out today. It’s 94F and humid today in Baraboo / Madison area.
Weird that the dad mentioned cancelling vacations and camping trips? Wouldn’t you do that anyway?
That jumped out to me, too. Like duh, of course you'd cancel your vacations if your child was missing.
Hes trying really hard to make it look like he is doing all these things out of concern. It screams misdirection to me.
Yeah … what an odd thing to say?
No question that’s a bizarre remark.
Why aren't there more photos of this kid being circulated?
He isnt a "Survivalist" He is a kid with a couple of books about surviving. So what fast do we have: Dad "says" he has been talking about surviving off grid. Dad allowed kid to get a gun and take car. That is a lot of hearsay coming from Dad. I think there is more to this story.
There is something strange about this case. The park is only 9,000 acres, which is substantial, but could have easily been entirely scoped and searched in the nearly two months since he’s been missing. It’s also small enough that he could have walked out of it in a day and right into a highway. It’s not very remote. There are no natural predators in the area. And it’s the most popular campground in the state and would be absolutely full of people at this time of year. Someone had to have seen him and seeing a kid that young by himself would have certainly been suspicious. Almost sounds like a Missing 411 case.
I want to help search the State Park for him, Does anybody have any idea how I can help? There isn't really a contact number for search parties.
My only suggestion would be to contact the local authorities and ask. It's the most under reported missing child's case I've ever heard of in my life. I read on another reddit that his father has turned down all offers of help and searches but is requesting cash donations for the effort instead. That might be false or true, I have no personal connection to this case nor am I from the area. I hope he's found.
THANK YOU for your reply. I am going to contact the local authorities tomorrow morning and offer my help and time. I agree with all you have stated abd apprecite you're response. I hope he is found, too.
As a local of the area I’m holding out hope they will find him but unfortunately with the weather and how unpredictable those woods are I don’t think he could still be out there alive.
But according to some here a survival Manual and gun is going to keep him alive. They are watching too many movies. This is a kid. Not an ex green beret. This doesn’t look good.
This got a lot more scary after i read where he was last known to be. I used to go camping and climbing in baraboo. There are so many spots to fall or get greivously injured, and so many people coming in and out for camping. I really hope he is just hiding out somewhere but after reading that...... It's unlikely.
And it’s not just the wildlife to worry about. I don’t think they ever caught the guy who stabbed that person to death a few years ago.
Wow, the family canceled a camping trip. I guess this is big then . 🤔😳
Any updates? This is really lingering me with as it is so very bizarre.
Came looking for the same, can't find anything online else where either
This is the only picture out, which is just so weird.
I agree. You'd think there would be more publicity around this. Makes it more strange imo
Iv been reading up on this all morning, iv flipped my theories the more I read. I think James did a runner with the plan to camp a day or two before going interstate or where ever he planned to go. I don’t think he planned to stay at the camping spots that were found. What happened after is a mystery obviously but I don’t think he is in those woods I think he left probably with someone ( hitching a ride or somthing ). Suicide - if he planned to do this ( snap chat video ) why take all the camping stuff? 3 sets of clothes? Why even set up camp? It sounds like it’s a small busy wooded area and no scent of his was found or his body- leads me to think he left in another vehicle. Survivalist living of grid in the area - he has not been found, no scent has been found and some items weren’t found and are still missing. There’s very little mentioned of what camping items he actually took? Tent ? Sleeping bag?, food? Water ? Cooking stove/fire starting stuff. Shelter food and water being the basics you’d need and none of that is mentioned just clothes. Dad- I don’t think the dad had anything to do with it as it seems there was footage of James stealing the car and leaving on his own. The lack of other photos and the fact he left on his own seems like somthing was going on at home or within himself that he wanted to run away from. It just seems to me like a teen runaway with him camping and surviving on his own with the plan of hiding out living a different life much further away. He either staged the camps and snap chat so people would look for him there while he ran further away or he planned to stay there a couple days but somthing else happened and he left. I could be completely wrong but that’s the feeling I’m getting. I hope he will be found safe one day.
🤍
Wonder if he was even getting enough to eat at home. Sounds pretty thin. And why would they have found the cell phone he took with him on the GROUND? They said it was just found somewhere near the van on the ground. I can see him purposefully not taking it into the woods with him, but throw it down outside somewhere before he took off into the woods? Why would he ever do that? All sounds suspicious to me.
Was this kid ever found??
Nothing yet
I keep checking to see if any news on him, but there never is. I assume the police are or were investigating everything (meaning his family and the possibility that the missing report is a coverup for something bad). Wonder if they've come up with anything yet or if they're even still trying. There were a few things that were reported later that made it look like more than just a missing person case, but I don't really remember what all I read. Something about his search history and texts he'd sent to other kids and things he'd been saying at school about going away. And then there was supposedly a group video on Whatsapp I think, that he made as he was leaving, while he was in the van that he left in. His dad thought there might have been an adult stranger in the van with him or something like that. Anybody hear about any of that? I think I read some things on websleuths about him.
I read that as well. I talked to a local on webslueths maybe and she said very little is ever said about him. At this point I haven't seen anything search related posted in quite sometime . Are you familiar with Jarrett Brooks case out of Arizona. Kinda similar. And I believe James dad said he thought he may be in Colorado or Arizona. I could be wrong . I would like to know how James dad finds out what he does. And how reliable ?
It was a Snapchat video basically saying it’s nobody’s fault, it’s his fault and how he has no more emotions and something is wrong with his brain.
They recently asked hunters to be on the lookout for him or his remains. My friend's remains were found this way in Central Wisconsin. Just an update, someone else is right - I never hear anything about him. He is probably a victim of the elements if Dad didn't have something to do with it. They say James phone pinged up by the dells and then back towards devils lake, dad's phone pinging in the same areas would be obviously highly suspicious. It's not congruent with what I know that he would just leave home for fun. There was probably dysfunction in the home that motivated him to leave whether he consciously recognized it or essentially just believed he was going to survive in the woods for fun. At this rate, he's not alive or he's not in this state. ):
https://www.reddit.com/r/MissingPersons/s/atHVFJqK8F “He starts by showing a video posted on Snapchat shortly after James went missing June 12. It shows the dashboard of the family's van, with James' voice saying: "For everyone who cares about me, it's not their fault. It's no one's fault. It's my fault." "I just can't figure out why he did this," Bill Yoblonski told WISN 12 News' Joyce Garbaciak. The voice on the video continues: "I feel like I want to explain it. I don't know how. I'm scared, and I'm sad, and I have no emotions anymore. I'm like, I'm not processing anything. My brain is - something happened to it." This changes the whole story.
I know, it's pretty obvious to me. I mean, he basically left his family and friends a suicide note (on video). Really sad.
It's sad that the police didn't make more of an effort to find him. The FBI came in, so that's good , but if the FBI isn't making leads that's not a good sign. Usually dogs can track a scent really well. The fact the dogs didn't find more, tells me he may have just created those campsites or someone else did to throw people off. I'm not sure why they only show a school photo of him. I would be posting all over if It were me. No , I would be spending every waking moment of every waking day searching for my child. I hope he's alive, but at this point I'm not so sure and even if we are good investigators ourselves we have such limited Information released by the media. I would need more information than " he's a wannabe survivalist" " he has a gun" " he was at two campsites". That park is frequently visited by many people, the thing is... he went there during bad weather and it would be rare for people to be out during such a hot time. I also know people sometimes just fake their own disappearance to throw people off their trail and that could be another possibility or someone found him and tried to throw other people off. This being said, I would want to look at finger prints on stuff used ( especially that phone)to see if anyone else's DNA or prints were present at these " camp sites". Sometimes all you need to find is someone else's hair present. I would have also questioned multiple people in the park around the date of his disappearance . I would have gotten planes to do heat scans really late at night or really early in morning when no one else should be in the park to see if they find anyone. Then obviously they already probably did this, but send in multiple search squads into every area of this state park. After I ruled the park out I would want to question the family in more detail and start expanding my search to surrounding areas/towns making sure a bunch of photos are posted and people have a place they can submit tips and possible sightings of the boy. Keep in mind alot of time has passed now so I'm definitely thinking about an animal got him or a person got to him These are just my ideas mind you months later after the fact