In August of 2018, a young White / Caucasian man's life was brutally cut short, leaving a family heartbroken and a community in shock. Trevor Vossen, a 27-year-old male from Wheeling, West Virginia, was reported missing on August 3, 2018, along with his girlfriend, Lauren "Lulu" Cree-Jenkins, who was five months pregnant at the time. The search for the couple came to a grim end approximately two weeks later when their dismembered and burned remains were discovered by a logging crew in a rural
area of Raleigh County. The remains were later identified through dental records.
The investigation into the gruesome murders led authorities to believe that Vossen and Jenkins were lured to a house in Wheeling, where they were killed. Investigators determined that Vossen had been stabbed while Jenkins had been shot. Their bodies were then dismembered and transported to Raleigh County to be burned in an attempt to destroy evidence. Authorities also sought information on Vossen's missing 2002 white Honda Accord.
For years, the case remained a complex and ongoing investigation. In September 2021, a breakthrough occurred when an Ohio County Grand Jury returned indictments for Gerald Wayne Jako, Jr., and Dana Marie Bowman on three counts of murder and two counts of concealing a deceased human body. Jako, who was already serving a prison sentence for unrelated charges, was considered a person of interest early in the investigation. Bowman was arrested in Ohio and extradited to West Virginia.
The motive for the horrific crime was described as revenge, with Jako believing Vossen had stolen from him while he was previously incarcerated. In a surprising turn of events just before his trial was set to begin in September 2023, Gerald Jako pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. As part of the plea agreement, a murder charge related to Jenkins' unborn child and charges of concealing a body were dropped. In January 2024, Jako was sentenced to two concurrent life prison terms for the murders of Vossen and Jenkins. These sentences are to be served after he completes a 100-year sentence for a prior armed robbery conviction. Bowman, Jako's then-girlfriend at the time of the murders, was set to be a witness in the case. The resolution of the case brought a measure of closure to the families of Trevor Vossen and Lauren Jenkins, though the pain of their loss endures.
