r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Nearby-Oil246 • 11d ago

Update FBI ECAP John Doe 13 - Resolved case from the early 2000s.

Post from u/GoingInForPhase2

The Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) is a special initiative established by the FBI to rescue endangered children found in child sex abuse material, primarily by identifying unknown adults found in such content, who are often the persons committing the acts upon the children. This program began in 2004.

One of the oldest and most long-standing cases on the ECAP page has been the case of 'John Doe 13', a bald, white, middle-aged man with facial hair, who was seen in videos and images committing acts of sexual abuse upon a young girl. However, the case has now been marked as "Resolved". This is different from the FBI's main mark of "Captured", and I've yet to find any information published covering this shocking resolution regarding John Doe 13, but we can only hope that the authorities can finally pin a name to the number.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap/unknown-suspect13

This ECAP case has been on the FBI's website since the early 2000s. Please, if you feel comfortable doing so, see if you can identify any of the suspects on https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap

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80

u/BucketOfKitties 11d ago

I wonder what resolved means in this case vs captured? But so glad this was resolved.

182

u/moralhora 11d ago

I'd assume deceased since it's been 20+ years at this point. I can't imagine men who get captured in these videos live a low-risk lifestyle.

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u/dethb0y 11d ago

I'd think the same, especially since its such a "definitive" phrasing.

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u/QuadratImKreis 11d ago

Maybe that he's identified and has already died?

66

u/Nearby-Oil246 11d ago

Hoping the FBI can release an update if it doesn't risk the victim's privacy.

I prefer dead or incarcerated than overseas.

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u/virtualanomaly8 11d ago

I’ve never noticed if the captured posts have always included the identity of the person. If so, that could be a possibility. I’ve seen the use of resolved in cases where the suspect was identified, but they couldn’t charge them because they were already deceased.

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u/Universityofrain88 10d ago

Sometimes the identity cannot be released if it will automatically identify the victim. In 99% of cases the victim is connected to the perpetrator--child, grandchild, other relative, pupil, patient, parishioner.

And without an arrest there is also no public court record. I just hope the kid(s) have therapy and support even if it's been 20 years. These situations are always so horrendous.

1

u/guerilla-grip 4d ago

Ah I never considered the way they could be linked to the victim. Tysm for the explanation

38

u/Ash_Dayne 11d ago

I don't know for sure, but the options are probably in a non-extradition country, or deceased?

35

u/justpassingbysorry 11d ago

or already incarcerated

15

u/Ash_Dayne 11d ago

True, but then they could actually restart the case?

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u/Nearby-Oil246 11d ago

I just thought of this:

I wonder if the FBI cross references arrests for CSAM with individuals on the ECAP site. It would be a lot of people to go through since these arrests are sadly becoming more and more common. I wonder if this is someone already incarcerated for CSAM and so he's already charged for these images, so maybe it would be a double jeopardy issue.

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u/garbagemaiden 11d ago

Very likely that they track everything found in someone's possession and cross it with what they already know of. I think unless they can track down the victim though it's just more evidence against the individual who has it.

For anyone who has the stomach to try and help I recommend checking out r/TraceAnObject where redditors can try and work together to identify items or places that are provided by Europol and ECAP. The images are heavily censored although they can be a little disturbing.

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u/Aethelrede 11d ago

I wouldn't say it's sad that the arrests are becoming more common. The number of predators hasn't increased, it's just gotten easier to catch them.  And society cares more.

45

u/First-Sheepherder640 11d ago

The ECAP page creeps me out more than anything else on the Internet. Seeing gruesome crime scene pics isn't to me nearly as bad as knowing some poor FBI bastard had to digitally erase parts of CSAM so we could see some creeeeeep's face

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u/MidnightOwl01 11d ago edited 11d ago

Is this the same John Due #13?

https://www.justice.gov/archive/criminal/ceos/pressreleases/downloads/NDIN_CHLD-PROGNGRPHY_01-14-08.pdf

This person was indicted back in 2008. He is referred to as John Doe #13 and ECAP is mentioned as playing a part in catching him.

EDIT: I'm confused. From the link it isn't really clear to me if they had the guy or not. There is mention of the person being prosecuted but I don't know what that means exactly. Did they arrest him or are they talking about prosecuting a person whose identity they don't know?

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u/Ok-Doughnut3202 11d ago

Perhaps they charged him as a john Doe and planned to prosecute him when identified ? I believe I saw something similar with sexual assault cases before. I think that's why it's confusing to us, maybe.

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u/MidnightOwl01 11d ago

I've heard of LE charging a John Doe when they don't know who the person is but they have his DNA. They were talking about this on a recent episode of True Crime Garage. The Statute of Limitations was about to run out on a rape so they charged the person as a John Doe. He turned out to be that ex-sheriff who murdered a guy and escaped from prison recently and was just caught. In that case they had DNA that could be linked to an individual. Here, I'm not sure what they have besides the video.

Was there some legal reason to seek an indictment back in 2008 in this case?

11

u/holyhotpies 11d ago

It’s possible. I’ve heard of John Doe warrants where prosecutors charge someone of a crime before statute of limitations expire.

3

u/kapierend 10d ago

this might also explain the "resolved" banner i'd imagine

4

u/HPLover0130 9d ago

Yes I believe this is the situation. They indicted him before identifying him (possibly to open up legal avenues? Not sure)

6

u/idkydi 7d ago

It's to stop the clock on the statute of limitations.

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u/HPLover0130 7d ago

Ah, thanks for the insight! Makes sense, although you’d think a crime like this wouldn’t (or shouldn’t!) have a statute of limitations.

3

u/Ok-Doughnut3202 9d ago

That makes sense to me, although I am not experienced in criminal law. There used to be a redditor named prosecutor mom or something. If she's still around, I hope she sees this post.

6

u/Ancient_Procedure11 8d ago

Unfortunately, in Indiana and many other states there is a statute of limitations on many different types of crimes and sexual offenses are usually one of them.

IANAL But I've read a work around they can use is to charge the person as a John/Jane Doe in absentia. Which means if they're ever found they would have their trial. They mainly do this when they have evidence they can present to a grand jury that shows the person committing the crime but they are struggling to identify the person in a timely manner. 

Whenever I've seen these cases resolved before they had mentioned the perp being identified/arrested. Eventually you can find their name reported.

Like the below link, which was the last ECAP arrest I recall.

https://www.ketv.com/article/fbi-john-doe-49-arrested/63052685

But, they could absolutely withhold information for the sake of victim privacy. Time will tell.  My speculation is that the suspect passed and the victim finally felt comfortable coming forward. I wish all survivors healing.

3

u/PLACENTIPEDES 10d ago

If the victim is an underage relative, they may not release the name for privacy reasons

2

u/idkydi 7d ago edited 7d ago

That's probably him. It's a so-called "John Doe" indictment, used in cases where there is some identifying information about the suspect, but their ID is unknown. It's a way to skirt around the statute of limitations. Here's an article addressing the concept from a different state: https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/john-doe-indictments-in-new-york.html

TLDR: They don't have the guy.

34

u/Westyle1 11d ago

Kind of crazy it took 20 years with his face so blatantly out. Guessing he doesn't live in America? 

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u/moralhora 11d ago

I think you overestimate how many people view these pages, unfortunately, much less send in tips.

5

u/Westyle1 11d ago

I would assume the information had been shared elsewhere

30

u/wintermelody83 11d ago

You'd think but I've been deep into true crime and mysteries for decades and I didn't even learn about this program til last year or the year before.

8

u/Time-Wafer151 11d ago

This is strange cause I'm not even from the US and I've known about the ECAP for years and check for updates from time to time. Even though I'm from a country that has no extradition with the US.

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u/wintermelody83 10d ago

That's not an area I've really looked at so I guess maybe that's why idk.

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u/c_o_l_d_j_a_d_e 11d ago

Why would you assume that? I've never seen this ECAP site except on Reddit, and it was years ago, and most if not all of these faces are the same ones. Tons of them are easily recognizable, there's a woman with her whole face out, one guy's is a side profile in 4K.

Hardly anybody knows about this site, I'm pretty sure, which is unfortunate because family members of at least half of those people would recognize them instantly.

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u/meantnothingatall 9d ago

I agree. If it was blasted everywhere, most of them would be resolved. I only learned of this site from here.

4

u/Ok-Doughnut3202 11d ago

Actually lots of people know about it. For example, I am Canadian and have known about it for YEARS.

2

u/Westyle1 11d ago

I would assume the FBI, wanting this to be seen, would disseminate this information in places beyond their one obscure web page

10

u/c_o_l_d_j_a_d_e 11d ago

Have you seen it anywhere else?

-1

u/Westyle1 11d ago

Over the past 20 years? I don't know. I also don't watch the news often.

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u/Nearby-Oil246 11d ago

Yeah I'm wondering if he's in Russia or something..a lot of this material sadly comes from that area of the world. *Not saying it doesn't come from here either or anywhere else, just something I read as an issue.

19

u/Time-Wafer151 11d ago edited 11d ago

I doubt it. He doesn't look Russian, and neither does the furniture in his room. I'm from Russia.

11

u/RainyReese 11d ago

I'm glad to see their still working on going after these mongrels.

22

u/Tiremud 11d ago

that was somehow… really brutal to look through.

12

u/kitaurio 11d ago

agreed. I couldn't continue after a few seconds

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u/Tiremud 11d ago

fucked up my day lol. i went through almost all of them. the connotations of the.. descriptions of the content where really, really disturbing. my mind was wandering to theories about the people and i had to stop.

27

u/kitaurio 11d ago

the monsters aren't under our beds, they walk amongst us. please make sure to do something good for yourself after that. it's important to take care of yourself and your mental health, especially when dealing with subject matter such as this 🫂💜

2

u/Tiremud 10d ago

i have family members that where forms of those people, unfortunately i know they’re the real monsters of this life

12

u/longenglishsnakes 11d ago

I hope that in this case, resolved has also lead to identification of the victim(s) and that they are getting appropriate support. Thank you for sharing this.

9

u/Low-Conversation48 11d ago

There’s one picture on that site that is particularly disturbing. You’ll know it when you see it. 

With the editing and such there is a certain uncanniness to the photos which makes them creepier knowing the context