Meeting Jill Lampo

Jill Lampo was dating Jon Onuma at the time Kristen vanished. About a year after Kristen vanished, the police got a search warrant and went over to his apartment in the 700 block of O'Farrell St to see what they could find out.

The police told the Mod's that they found a diary belonging to Jill Lampo.  In it was the name of Matthew Luque, who also had worked at Spinelli's Coffee shop, the same place that Kristen had worked.  From what I understand, he did not work there until after Kristen vanished.  However, his close friend, Kelly Strathman, did work at Spinelli's at the same time as Kristen.

Could this be a possible link that Onuma knew Kristen?  It was too early to tell, but now the Oakland Police had something to work with.

Also, the diary that investigators found had a few pages missing. The pages were June 23rd and the 24th...the same days Kristen went missing.

Officer Mahanay would not tell the Mod's how to locate Jill.  He went on to say that Jill was a cooperating witness and that they knew where she lived, how to reach her, etc. The police did not want the Modafferi's or myself to attempt to contact her.

Frustration.

A few years into Kristen's disappearance, the investigation more or less slowed to a snail's pace. No longer was Kristen in the headlines and meanwhile, her family was 3,000 miles away.

Bob and Debbie decided to fly back out to California in an attempt to get Kristen back in the news.  In an TV interview, Kristen's dad made a public plea for 'Jill Lampo' to please come forward and make contact with the Modafferi's. Mr. Modafferi only said they wanted to speak with her regarding Kristen and never made any implication that she was guilty of anything.

Jill never contacted the Modafferi's, which only deepened the Mod's frustration and added to the mystery of Jill Lampo.

The situation sat this way for another two years. Then came July 2nd, 2002.

Bob and Debbie flew to the Bay Area just before the 4th of July holiday this year and during that trip made the decision to try and once again contact Jill Lampo.

Meeting Jill after all this time was simply a matter of driving to the address given to me by the Private Investigator and knocking on the door.

I arrived at the address, unannounced, in the Bay Area and knocked on the door. It took a long time for someone to come to the door but I stayed there because cars were in the driveway.

A man answered the door and I more or less said;  "Hi, I am not sure I am at the right house, but I am looking for Jill Lampo."

"Who are you and what is this about"?

(I knew that was coming!)

"My name is Dennis Mahon and I am a friend of the Modafferi family. I am here in regards to Kristen"

The man looked like a deer in the headlights, excused himself saying he'd be right back, and closed the door.

At this point, I knew I was at the right house.

A few moments later, he reemerged and said he could not help me and that I should contact the police with any questions.

"Sir, If Jill isn't here...may I ask YOU a favor?"  Would there be any chance of me buying you dinner?  I have a lot on my heart and I need to speak to someone about it."

This caught him off guard, he thought about it for a second and then politely declined my offer.

I then asked him if I could just give him my card and when he sees Jill to please give it to her.

He was hesitant, but finally agreed to that request.

As I was handing him the card, I heard a woman's voice, just out of sight, but very close to the front door.

Then Jill came to the door and asked who I was.  I identified myself, "My name is Dennis and I am friends of the Modafferi's." I told her I would give her $100 to just listen to me for 5 minutes. She said she would never except my money but immediately and very kindly, invited me into her home.

She walked me back to her room, and believe it or not, told me she was very glad I was there and that she would not accept any money from me.

She was on the verge of tears and made it very clear to me that she was elated that I was there. She said she had been praying for an opportunity to meet the Modafferi's and share with them her experiences resulting from having her name publicly attached to Kristen. She wanted to answer any questions they may have in an attempt to aid their mission and show them the truth. 

I want to say this at the outset....

Jill Lampo was the exact opposite of what I had conjured up in my mind, both in her appearance as well as her demeanor, especially as it pertains to the Modafferi family. For the past few years, my image of Jill was that of a woman 75 feet tall, strung out on dope, cigarettes and Mountain Dew.  I imagined her body to be covered in tattoos and body piercings and just always assumed she would be very hostile to anybody connected with the Modafferi's.  Her address in June 1997 was in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco. To put it mildly, that neighborhood is a nightmare.

This was based on three factor's.

1)   Everything I had learned about Onuma I more or less transferred that image over to                    her. Birds of a feather that type of deal.

2)  The tenderloin neighborhood is a human disaster...I was there for 8 months and saw                   with my own eyes all that is wrong with human nature and finally, 

3)  When she didn't come forward after Bob's plea I just assumed I was right about her.                    That is the Jill Lampo that was in my mind.

The Jill Lampo I met in person appeared to be attractive, intelligent, educated, well spoken and  compassionate towards the Modafferi's.  I was expecting her to launch into a tirade when she invited me into her home but she was just the opposite.

Jill said she was angry but not upset with the Mod's. She claims that Oakland PD took her truthful answers out of context, twisted them to suit their own agenda and then spoon-fed that information to greiving parents searching for their child.

If Jill told me this once, she has told me this a hundred times; "I am upset with Oakland PD, not with the Modafferi's."

I told Jill that the Modafferi's were in town that night and asked if she would agree to meet with them.

Jill literally broke down and cried. 

She said that her tears were tears of relief, finally getting the chance to speak with the Mod's to share her concerns with the family that have weighed heavily on her heart and in her life for years.

She immediately called her parents and brother and invited them to the meeting. Her reason for doing so is she wanted the Mod's to see how nice of a family she comes from.  It was too short of a notice and the family was not able to attend. Jill also had to rearrange her evening's  plans at the last minute so that she could make the time to meet with the Mod's.

Jill Lampo meets Bob and Debbie Modafferi

More than 5 years after Kristen vanished and 2 years after the Modafferi's made their public plea, I was able to locate Jill and speak with her, and she agreed to meet with the Mod's.  Jill Lampo finally sat down for three hours with Kristen's mom and dad in a hotel just south of San Francisco.

The meeting took place from 9pm til after midnight. 

It should be noted up front that Jill has not been named a suspect and claims that she knows nothing about what happened to Kristen on June 23, 1997.  The police have not been able to rule out Jon Onuma, however, and because Jill was his girlfriend at the time of Kristen's disappearance, they feel she may know more than she is admitting.  Jill has told the Mod's that she has asked the Oakland Police on several occasions to give her a polygraph so she can clear her name.  She says they said they would give her the test, but have never done so, for reasons unknown.

At this point I am going to print TWO VERSIONS of what happened at this meeting.  The first version is Bob and Debbie's account of what happened, boiled down to 5 KEY QUESTIONS.   Prior to printing this chapter, I decided to give Jill Lampo the opportunity to review the Mod's account of the meeting and make changes and add comments if she wanted to.  The blue text is Jill Lampo's edited account of what happened at the meeting.

The Five Key Questions:

1) It's been 5 years, why haven't you contacted Kristen's parents?

     Jill Lampo told the Mod's, amid tears, that her life and her family has been devastated since they made her name known through the media as someone who may know something about Kristen's disappearance because of her relationship with Jon Onuma at the time..  It's understandable to the Mod's that Jill's life has been disrupted because they released her name, but Bob asked several times, and never once got a straight answer, as to why she didn't come forward right at that time, as they had asked her to do.  Every time Bob asked that direct question, she went back to the "do you know how this has affected my life" scenario. 

Jill: Because I had always cooperated with authorities even under the most terrible circumstances with them and when the Modafferi's took my name to the media.

    1. I was already sick with the flu

    2. The shock of it all sprawled me back into depression again.

    3. Oakland PD. were well aware that I had always been completely cooperative.

2) When did you first hear about Kristen?

   Jill says that the first time she heard about Kristen was when police came to her work in September, three months after Kristen vanished. Jill said that Onuma was extrememly strict and would not permit her to watch TV or read the news. Somehow, she was under his spell and she obeyed his command. .

Jill: September 1997, although I do recall seeing missing person pictures posted near where I lived before September.

3) Can you explain the missing pages in the diary?

   According to Jill, this was not a diary, but a daily planner, and it was confiscated by the Oakland Police. Jill has no memory of what she had written on the days of June 23rd and June 24th. These pages, which coincided with the date that Kristen vanished, had been torn out.

According to the police, at one time Jill had mentioned to one of her friends that if the police found out what was on those pages, then Jon Onuma would be in a lot of trouble. This was a major 'red flag' to authorities. 

Jill maintains that she was taken out of context. 

She says that she was referring to the fact that Onuma treated her badly.  "If the cops read those pages, Jill contends, they would go after Onuma simply for the way he treated her."  Although she can't remember what was written in these missing pages, she maintains it was not related to Kristen. 

But what Bob and Debbie wanted to know is what made these particular pages different than all the other entries in the rest of the day planner? 

Jill says that Onuma continually abused her,  Why wouldn't most, if not all of the pages contain similar comments?  It seems unlikely that just those particular dates - right around the date of Kristen's disappearance - told about Onuma's abusive behavior.  But these are the missing dates, the rest of the book is intact.  We got no answer, but, in closing, Jill said that she did not tear out the pages...and that she blames Officer Mahanay of the Oakland Police or Onuma for actually tearing out the pages. 

Jill: First of all, it was not my "Diary" which Oakland police investigators claimed contain missing pages at all, it was my "Day Planner".

Second, I do not recall any notes I made in my "Day Planner" over 5 years ago.

Third, I did have a separate "Diary" of which I wrote in frequently. My "Diary" was a "Christian Prayer Note Book" given to me by a friend, who has also spoken with Mrs. Modaferri. I used to vent my anger and fears about all the emotional and physical abuse I sustained by Onuma in my "Diary".  When Onuma read this he was enraged and threatened me with bodily harm if I did not destroy it, so I did. Later I told a friend of mine, "If anyone had ever read my (Diary/Prayer Book) about what Mr. Onuma did to me, he would have been in big trouble."  The Oakland Pd investigators took that information, twisted it around and told the Modaferri's that what I had said to my friend in reference to my "Diary/Prayer Book" was in reference to my "Day Planner".

Please Note: Diaries do not have dates in them.  My prayer book had blank pages with prayers at the bottom.  Now, Mrs. Modefferi believes that alleged missing pages in my "Day Planner" contain some vital info about her daughter?

1. I destroyed my "Diary" and told my friend about it long before Kristin's disappearance.    2.If my "Day Planner" was found at Onuma's residence during a search after I moved out,              obviously the 'Day Planner' and the information it contained were not important to                        me.

      3.It has been in the possession of the Oakland Police Department ever since. Anyone could have tampered with it. The alleged pages missing from it are not something I recall having any significance whatsoever and have no idea why they would be missing.  The question is who took the alleged pages and what did they have to gain by it? Has anyone ever been allowed by authorities to see my day planner? I have not.

4) On June 23, 1997, the day that Kristen went missing, you placed calls in the middle-of-the-night to your parents.  Do you remember what these calls were about?

   Jill told the Mod's that, five years after the fact, she has no idea what these calls were about.  She got extremely defensive and hostile, using a good deal of profanity when Debbie asked her what she said when she called her parents in the middle of the night of June 23, 1997.  Debbie remained very calm throughout, which seemed to unsettle Jill even more.  This became a real sore point for Jill and her emotions got away from her as she felt it was an unfair line of questioning. "It was five years ago!  How is anybody supposed to remember that?" For Kristen's mom, however, it has also been five years since she has seen her daughter. Debbie was determined to get a straight answer to that question. When it didn't come, Debbie stood her ground and would not move on to the next question.  She sat there patiently and wanted an answer to that question. She didn't get it and this point remains one of the unanswered questions in the Modafferi's heart.

Jill: No, I have always been very close to my parents and called my family in the middle of the night over the years frequently. This was not out of character for me at that age especially after my mom was diagnosed with cancer and undergoing treatment.

5) What did Jon Onuma say to you about Kristen?

    Jill told Bob and Debbie that Jon never mentioned a word to her about Kristen. She admitted that throughout their relationship, Jon was domineering and controlling. Jill says she has thought long and hard about this and looking back, she just cannot remember Jon acting out of character during this time period.  

Jill: After authorities came to my place of business for questioning in September 1997 I marched straight back home to Onuma that day enraged. He told me he did it for me and was getting back at my two previous YMCA managers for their abuse upon me and subsequently himself, for having to put-up with my tears, anger, and stress every single day. Then he told me it was all my fault he did it. Shocked, all I could do was go to the bathroom, throw-up, and cry on the floor for hours

Five Questions asked, and still no resolution as to what happened to Kristen Modafferi in San Francisco over 5 years ago, The responses above raise more questions than answers.