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“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we look into a kidnapping case from 2006.”
“2006? That was recent!”
“Join us as we explore the puzzling disappearance of the Jackson family.”
“In 2006.”
“Yeah, and I have to say - this one is weird.”
“Well, yeah, Ryan, all our cases are weird.”
“Yeah but this one - well, you’ll see. I think this is the most confusing case we’ve ever looked at.”
“And that’s saying a lot!”
“Right, and also. This is the first time with a case where I don’t think there’s a single plausible theory.”
“What?”
“Yeah, like I researched a bunch of theories, and gathered the ones that make the most sense, but none of them really make any sense at all.”
“Exciting! Alright, well let’s get into it!
On June 6th, 2012, Perseus Jackson, commonly known as Percy, was expelled from Yancy Academy, which advertised itself as a private boarding school for troubled kids.
Seems like they weren’t very good at handling troubled kids if a twelve year old managed to get himself expelled.
(wheeze) well, yeah.
What did this kid do, anyway?
I was about to get into that.
Yeah, yeah. Go ahead.
According to school records, Percy faced disciplinary action following a disturbance on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, apparently threatening other students and teachers with a sword. Interestingly, there was no incident involving items being removed from display cases at the museum on that day, meaning that Percy did not acquire a sword while inside the museum. He also passed through the metal detectors when entering the building without incident, meaning that he didn’t bring it in with him.
Wait, what?
So, he didn’t use a sword belonging to the museum.
Yeah…
And he couldn’t have brought a sword in with him.
So he didn’t have a sword?
So there’s no way he could have had a sword.
So why was he expelled?
Literally no one knows. The school sticks by its story.
You were right, this is bizarre.
This is literally the tamest detail of the entire case.
Oh, boy!
Yeah, it only gets weirder from here.
That evening, Percy returned home to his stepfather’s apartment in Manhattan, before departing with his mother, Sally Jackson, for the beach at Montauk, despite a forecast predicting hurricane force storms for the area.
Why did they go to the beach right after he got expelled?
Actually, this was a fairly frequent destination for the Jackson family, they went several times a year.
Oh, so this was like…
Yeah, it seems like it was a planned trip.
Okay.
After arriving at their cabin in Montauk, Sally Jackson called her husband, Gabe Ugliano, to confirm that they had arrived safely. Nothing was heard from either Percy or Sally after that. The next morning, June 7th, police responded to reports of an abandoned vehicle on the side of the Montauk Highway, where they found the Ugliano/Jackson family vehicle crashed and abandoned. Percy and Sally were nowhere to be found.
So they went to the beach…
Yeah.
And then at some point in the night they left the beach, crashed the car, and then just took off?
Well, maybe!
Okay, okay, keep going.
It appears that Sally and Percy left the Montauk cabin in a hurry, as it was in a state of some disarray when police searched it. Nothing of note was found there, except for Sally Jackson’s wallet, which contained her driver’s license, state ID, debit card, credit card, a few shopper’s cards, a photo of her son, and $17.04 in cash. Blood and hair samples taken from within the car proved to be matches for Percy and Sally, but there was also an unidentified third person present in the car, as well as a goat.
A goat.
(wheeze) a goat.
They were in such a hurry to leave this cabin that she didn’t even take her wallet, but she had time to grab a goat?
Apparently.
Is it possible that they just had goat fur on their clothes?
(wheeze) how and why would they have goat fur on their clothes?
Well, I don’t - maybe they went to a petting zoo!
There was no petting zoo open nearby. Almost every business in Montauk was closed due to heavy storms.
But the Jacksons still went on vacation there that weekend?
Go figure.
And there was another person there too?
Yes, there was blood in the car that was not a match for either Percy or Sally, but they were never able to identify who it belonged to.
The car was found lying on its side. The roof of the car was split open and had burn marks on it. The front end of the car had been partially destroyed by the gas engine exploding. Also, the car looked as though it had been repeatedly kicked by a horse, and multiple hoofprints were found on it.
Wait, back up.
Yeah?
So the car is on its, on its side, right? And the roof was somehow torn open?
Yep.
And then, what, a horse wandered by and decided to kick at it for a few minutes?
Apparently it could have also been a cow.
What?!
Yeah, I have nothing for you here. These are just the facts of the case.
Well I’m hooked!
Police declared both Sally and her son to be missing, and put out APBs on them. Interestingly, when they interviewed Sally’s husband, he did not seem concerned about his missing wife and stepson, and was primarily upset about the damage done to his car.
He did it!
What?
The husband totally did it.
This...this isn’t a murder case?
But he made them disappear!
There’s...we will find out more things as the story goes on that will make that seem implausible.
I don’t care.
Okay, Shane doesn’t care, this episode is officially solved, Gabe Ugliano kidnapped Percy and Sally Jackson, thanks for watching, folks!
…
...
Okay, fine, go on.
A week later, on June 14th, a child matching Percy Jackson’s description was seen boarding a Greyhound bus in Manhattan, along with two other children around the same age. All three of them wore matching orange t-shirts, and passersby assumed they were part of a school or church group.
I like that.
(wheeze) you like that they were wearing matching orange t-shirts?
I do! It seems fun. A little orange...orange crew.
Okay.
Reportedly, an altercation broke out on the bus between the three children and three elderly women who were passengers on the same bus.
What? These kids were beefing with a couple of old ladies?
Yeah, like I said. This is a weird one.
Likely due to the distraction caused by the altercation, the bus driver lost control of the bus, and it crashed into a copse of trees on the side of the highway. Following the crash, all of the passengers evacuated the vehicle, excepting Percy Jackson, his two companions, and the three elderly women. The altercation continued inside the crashed bus, and the children could be seen using a variety of weapons against the women. Percy Jackson reportedly had a sword in his hand, and the girl travelling with him was seen wielding a knife.
This kid and his swords!
I know, this is the second sword-related incident involving this kid in the span of a week.
This does, perhaps, lend a little weight to the school report of him threatening his classmates with a sword, though.
Even though there was no way he could have gotten a sword inside the museum, nor procured one once inside.
Yeah.
Also, hey, how did they not instantly win that fight?
What do you mean?
I mean that heavily armed children trumps senior citizens in my book!
Apparently the elderly women were actually the aggressors in this situation.
What?
Yeah, eyewitness accounts say that Percy and his friends barely managed to hold them off. Even with their weapons.
Well that’s kinda badass.
You support these ladies attacking a trio of children?
Well no, of course not, but still! Good for them!
(wheeze) good for them?
Well, yeah!
The children, including Percy, managed to exit the bus only seconds before the gas tank exploded, leaving the whole bus destroyed. Despite the fact that the three women were not seen exiting the bus, no bodies were ever recovered from the scene, and no one was ever able to identify any of the three women.
Weird!
Yeah, like I said. The details on this one are bizarre.
Following the crash, the children escaped into the woods, but an eyewitness did manage to take a cell phone photo, which police used to confirm that it really was Percy Jackson on that bus. Intriguingly, the girl travelling with Percy was also identified from that photo as one Annabeth Chase - a missing child who had not been seen in five years, and was presumed dead. They were unable to identify the other boy travelling with Percy.
What?
So Percy and two unknown kids boarded the bus in Manhattan.
Uh-uh.
And then the police used this cellphone photo from the scene of the bus wreck to identify one of the other children, who hadn’t been seen since she was seven and disappeared from her family home in Richmond, Virginia.
What???
Yeah.
This is...this is a strange one.
Also, I should add, I’m telling this next bit chronologically, but police weren’t able to track their movements at the time, and they put things together after the fact based on CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts.
...okay...
The following day, June 15th, Percy, Annabeth, and their third companion returned a prize pink poodle to its owners in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and claimed a two hundred dollar reward.
Did they steal a poodle?
There is no evidence that they stole a poodle.
So these kids, what, took a break from blowing things up and fighting old ladies to go on a side quest and rescue a poodle?
Apparently so.
Okay.
Later that same day, they used the money from the reward to purchase cross-continental amtrak tickets from New Brunswick to Denver, Colorado, and they boarded the train at 1:43pm.
Why Denver?
No idea.
On June 16th, nine days after Sally and Percy’s disappearance, Gabe Ugliano cashed in a life insurance policy that he had taken out in Sally’s name before her disappearance. He also appeared on Good Morning America, where he declared that Percy was a dangerous delinquent and offered a cash reward for any information leading to his arrest.
Man, fuck this guy.
Yeah, he pretty much sucks.
Has no one seen, like, the mom in all this?
Nope. No sightings of Sally Jackson were reported since the time of her disappearance.
On June 17th, the train that Percy, Annabeth, and their companion were on had a three hour layover in St. Louis. They disembarked the train and apparently decided to use the time to visit a large tourist attraction in the city: the Gateway Arch.
Wait a minute!
Yes?
Is this that kid who blew up the goddamn St. Louis Arch?
(wheeze) yeah.
This kid was my hero when I was in college!
(wheeze) really?
Yeah! I liked his spunk!
A twelve year old kid who blew up a national monument was your hero?
Well, yeah, for a bit!
Sure (wheeze), why not?
Percy and his friends took the elevator to the top of the arch and reportedly admired the views for several minutes. When closing time was announced, Annabeth Chase and their unidentified companion took the elevator back down while Percy waited for the next car alongside a family with two young children, the park ranger, and a woman accompanied by an emotional support chihuahua. Despite there being no less than six witnesses present, the next part of the story is frustratingly vague. Somehow, Percy Jackson deployed an explosive device he had on his person, creating a large hole in the wall of the arch. He then threw his sword out of the hole he created -
I’ve said it before and I guess I’ll keep saying it: this kid and his swords!
(wheeze)
I swear to god! How many more swords are involved in this story?
They come up at least a couple more times.
Oh, boy!
He then threw his sword out of the hole he created, and then jumped out the hole himself.
He jumped out!
He jumped out. And I have to tell you, this is another weird bit.
Weird how?
Well, there’s no way he should have been able to make that jump. He not only jumped from a distance of 600 feet in the air, but he also needed to travel forwards at least 122 feet as he was falling in order to land in the river.
Huh.
Also, the water where he landed was at most 12-15 feet deep, meaning that since he fell from a height of 600 feet, he would have hit the riverbed at the bottom.
Well maybe that bit isn’t true?
There’s cell phone video of him falling, plus the testimonies of the five eyewitnesses who saw him jump.
I thought you said there were six of ‘em?
Let’s just get back into it.
Miraculously, Percy Jackson survived the jump, and no one was harmed in the explosion. However, there was another disappearance that day.
Another?!
The woman with the chihuahua did not come down from the arch. CCTV footage from the bottom of the elevator showed her going up, and neither her body nor her chihuahua's were recovered. Like the three old women on the bus, her identity was never discovered and her disappearance was never solved.
This is the real mystery here. I mean come on!
Yeah, no, mysterious unidentified strangers do have a habit of disappearing around this kid.
Bizarre! I like it!
Percy and his companions disappeared again and were not seen until June 21st, four days later.
Anything ring a bell about June 21st, 2006?
Should it?
Well, as a true californian would know, that was the date of the LA Fire.
Oh yeah! That was a big one!
(wheeze) it was...indeed...a big one.
Did he cause it?
Not that we know of?
At 12:14 pm, the US Coast Guard encountered Percy, Annabeth, and their unknown companion approximately 400 yards from shore in the Santa Monica Bay.
How did they get out there?
No one knows.
Okay, sure.
They were deposited on the shore, but the coast guard had to go assist in the firefighting efforts, and so lost track of the three children they had rescued. Percy Jackson then got into a shootout with an unknown gunman on the beach at Santa Monica.
What?!
When the police arrived, the gunman threw a grenade at the cars to ward them off, causing extensive damage and minor injuries, before diving into the surf and swimming to his escape.
What?!!
Percy Jackson and his friends were taken into custody. They told police that the armed gunman had kidnapped them back in New Jersey, and that he had been ultimately responsible for the damage they had caused. A community fund was started and within four hours enough money was raised to send the three of them back home to New York.
Just like that?
Just like that.
Well, okay! Sure!
While the flight landed safely at JFK, the plane that Percy Jackson and his friends flew home on was plagued by technological errors and massive turbulence. The captain attempted an emergency landing no less than three times after one of the engines blew out over New Mexico, but was stopped by a series of freak storms that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Man, this kid cannot catch a break, can he?
Not really, no.
Upon landing in New York, Percy and his companions were greeted by Percy’s mother, Sally Jackson, who had walked out of her apartment the morning before and reported for her shift at the candy shop where she worked as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Upon questioning, she claimed to have no memory of her trip to Montauk, nor anything that had happened since, until she woke that morning.
Really?
Yep.
Just, total amnesia?
Yep.
And the cops just bought it?
Yep.
You know, I know I say this a lot, but cops...not very good at their jobs.
Indeed.
Also, the cops in LA just took this kid at his word that he wasn’t actually behind any of the crazy shit that happened, and just sent him off to New York with a wave and a pat on the back? That’s insane! That’s negligence!
Two weeks after Sally and Percy Jackson reappeared, Sally filed a missing person’s report for one Gabe Ugliano.
What???
He was never seen again.
Why are people just disappearing all over the place?
In the following years Percy’s school gym would be blown up, he would cause massive disturbances at the Hoover Dam, there was another school fire linked to him, and he went missing again.
Again?
Yeah, he was missing for like six months and then there were a couple potential sightings of him in Alaska, and then the missing persons report was withdrawn.
Insanity.
Alright, let’s get into some theories!
Sure, I’d love to hear what you came up with.
Theory One: Percy Jackson was telling the truth and he was kidnapped by an unknown gunman who ferried him across the country, causing destruction and mayhem, and then was ultimately fought off in Santa Monica. Supporting this theory are several witnesses who came forwards after Percy and his companions were recovered, to say that they had seen the man threatening or travelling with the children.
Okay, I guess
Interestingly, some of these witnesses had already submitted statements that didn’t include the gunman, and then later revised them to say that he had actually been there too.
Well, that’s a little suspicious.
And it doesn’t account for the car crash, how Percy even ended up in New Jersey, or how he found his travelling companions. Also doesn’t explain the swords.
Oh, yeah, the swords!
And, the gunman was never identified nor apprehended. Neither Percy Jackson nor Annabeth Chase, the two identified kidnapped children, were ever brought in for further questioning following their return to New York, nor were they ever interviewed on official record. No sketch artist was brought in to put together a composite image of the gunman, they were never asked to look at a lineup, and the case was closed after only twelve hours.
Smells like a cover up to me!
Yeah, but who paid for the cover up?
Despite the fact that this theory is the official explanation for the Jackson’s disappearance and Percy’s odd road trip, it does little to satisfy the mystery. So with that, let’s look at our next theory, often known as the Underwood theory. Unlike with most of the cases we examine, many of the key players are still alive and accessible today. Percy Jackson, for example, is married to Annabeth Chase, and has a large instagram following due to fame resulting from his kidnapping.
I forgot this kid would still be around!
Yeah, he’s like, 27.
And he married that girl!
Yeah, three years ago, according to their instagrams.
Then why is this case unsolved! Hasn’t anybody asked him what happened?
Yeah, everybody involved all adamantly stand by the gunman story.
Even though it makes no sense?
Yeah.
Many of their followers believe that a frequent figure in their social media posts, one Grover Underwood, is the third child that accompanied them on their journey.
So the thing is, Grover Underwood doesn’t officially exist.
Oh?
Yeah, legally, no one by that name exists in the state of New York. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
But he keeps showing up on the ‘gram?
Yep. And I have to say, I’ve seen the side by side comparisons of him and the third kid, and I do feel like it could be him.
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, all appear to belong to the same insular, secretive group, based on their social medias. Other names you may recognize from this group are Thalia and Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, and Charles Beckendorf.
I don’t recognize any of those names.
Really?
Should I?
Alright, well, Jason Grace was reported dead at two years old, but his mother was never able to produce a body and he later reappeared as a teenager. His sister Thalia ran away at some point after that, Frank Zhang’s family house literally exploded, and then he also ran away, and Charles Beckendorf was yet another runaway who then died under mysterious circumstances.
Ooh! Spooky!
Many others associated with this group, like Grover Underwood, do not legally exist, and no record of birth, medical care, or education exists for them. Also, most of the people affiliated with the group have been seen acting in bizarre manners, often while carrying weapons such as swords, bows, and axes.
So the sword isn’t just a Percy thing?
Apparently not.
This theory posits that Grover Underwood was born on a secretive cult commune in Long Island that did not register its births with the state, nor send its children to public education. It is believed that this secretive cult takes in runaways and homeless teens as converts, and that Percy and Annabeth were sent across the country on some sort of initiation ritual, supervised by Grover. This could potentially explain much of the bizarre behavior, as well the disappearance and reappearance of Sally Jackson.
I don’t know. I don’t like this theory.
What don’t you like about it?
I think it’s very easy to point at anything strange and unexplained and go ‘oh! It’s cult activity!’, but there’s still just as much mystery surrounding it.
There are some other things that support this theory, more tangentially.
Oh yeah?
Yeah, you remember the matching orange shirts? Witnesses thought they were part of a church group.
Yeah, but that could be anything.
And then there’s a lot of reference to various greek and roman deities in the social media posts of those suspected to be involved.
Oh, so this isn’t like a Jesus cult? Or a Satan cult?
No, if anything it would appear to be a Zeus cult. Different members seem to pick various patrons, and take on traits and interests embodied by those particular gods.
Well, hey, if you’re gonna join a cult, at least you’re joining one with a cool gimmick!
This cult is believed to be run on a commune advertising itself as a strawberry farm in Long Island, known as Delphi Farms. Despite numerous reports to the police of suspicious activity and missing children on its grounds, no police investigation has ever been run, and no private detective or interested party has ever made it onto commune grounds.
What, you think the cult is paying off the police or something?
I guess!
With what money?
Well, with their strawberry money, maybe
Nah, I don’t buy it.
Okay, well I do have one more theory.
Okay, lay it on me.
It is also possible that Sally Jackson was a victim of alien abduction, and that Percy was following instructions from the aliens in order to ensure her safe return.
Oh, come on!
No! No, think about it!
No!
The roof of the car was ripped open, right? That could be cause of the aliens!
That could be for any number of reasons.
And victims of alien abduction frequently experience amnesia, like Sally.
I still think she’s lying about the amnesia!
And the way she just reappeared in her apartment was odd, you have to agree.
Yes, it was odd! That doesn’t mean it was aliens!
Fine. Anyways…
Whether kidnapping, cult activity, or alien abduction is to blame, the case of Percy and Sally Jackson’s disappearance remains...unsolved.
Yeah, I’m not very satisfied with this one.
Yeah, no one is.
And what was up with the hoofprints on the car? And the goat?