DEWITT, N.Y. – A convicted serial rapist who has served nearly 18 years for kidnapping and imprisoning five women and girls in a homemade dungeon under his home will appear before a New York State Parole Board for the first time next week.
John Jamelske, 85, was sentenced to 18 years to 99 years in prison for his crimes that spanned 15 years and were discovered when his last 16-year-old victim managed to contact a family member and was rescued the same day, Syracuse.com reported.
If granted parole, Jamelske would be eligible for release as soon as April 2021, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick told WSTM.
According to Syracuse.com, Jamelske raped the women and girls he kidnapped daily for months and, in at least one instance for years, before releasing them.
Jamelske told prosecutors his spree began with the 1988 abduction of a 14-year-old girl he kept in a well behind his mother’s neighboring house before building his own concrete bunker under his home and keeping her there for another three years, the outlet reported.
Over the next decade, Jamelske abducted, raped and imprisoned a 14-year-old girl, whom he held captive for 15 months; a 53-year-old woman, whom he held captive for nearly 10 months; a 26-year-old woman, whom he held captive for about two months; and the 16-year-old, who was rescued in 2003 after being held captive for nearly six months.
“I think, out of respect for the victims, he should be denied on his first appearance,” Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com.
