Unimaginable new particulars have emerged within the case of Michigan poker participant George Janssen, who claims he was kidnapped and held captive in a basement for 35 days.
George Janssen, pictured at a Heartland Poker Tour occasion in 2019, claims he was terrorized and extorted by a legal gang for 2 years earlier than his alleged kidnap, in accordance with a lacking individual’s report. (Picture: HPT)
Janssen, who had been reported lacking by his household on November 13 final 12 months, was discovered zip-tied and coated in blood on a rural street outdoors of town of Dangerous Axe, Mich., on December 16. He flagged down a passerby and advised them he had managed to flee his captors.
In accordance with a lacking individual’s report obtained by PokerNews, Janssen advised a buddy that earlier than his disappearance, he had been terrorized and extorted by a legal gang for roughly two years.
Extorted then Kidnapped?
The four-time World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Ring winner claimed his ordeal began when a masked man held a gun to his head as he acquired into his automobile within the parking storage of a Detroit on line casino, in accordance with the report. The person demanded $2 million, which Janssen mentioned he didn’t have.
Janssen was advised to drive down the road to satisfy different gang members who handed him a burner telephone, the report states. The poker participant claimed the gang would contact him on the telephone to demand funds periodically over the following two years, and threatened to hurt his household if he didn’t comply.
He was directed to drop-off factors, the place he was instructed to depart the money in containers offered by the criminals. Typically a brand new mobile phone can be ready for him within the field, and he was advised to depart the previous one with the money, in accordance with the doc.
On the day of his disappearance, Jannsen’s automobile was discovered deserted, with a number of $50 payments strewn on the ground.
Coded Message
On December 15, simply over a month after he went lacking, a member of the family acquired a handwritten letter from Jannsen, in accordance with the report.
In it, Janssen inquired in regards to the well being of sure pals and relations. However the letter included the names of six relations who didn’t exist: Kirby, Iggy, Daisey Noah, Anthony, and Parker.
The inclusion of the pretend names seems to be a cipher, for the reason that first letters of the names spell out Okay-I-D-N-A-P.
Jannsen’s funds have been additionally scrutinized within the report. He had been a profitable poker participant, with $440,763 in gross event earnings, in accordance with the Hendon Mob database. It was additionally claimed within the report he had been taking out loans on autos to promote by his automobile dealership that he couldn’t repay. On the time of his disappearance, he was $2 million in debt to his financial institution, the report alleged.
The FBI is investigating the case.
