United Airlines exec Jake Cefolia was under investigation for child porn before disappearance, death
United executive who disappeared and later was found dead investigated for child porn
Jake Cefolia, the United Airlines executive who was missing for a year before his remains were found in a suburban Chicago forest preserve, had been confronted by police about child porn being downloaded at his house just two days before he vanished.
CHICAGO - Jake Cefolia, the United Airlines executive who was missing for a year before his remains were found in a suburban Chicago forest preserve, had been confronted by police about child porn being downloaded at his house just two days before he vanished.
New documents obtained by FOX 32 Chicago through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that in July 2020, Elmhurst Police detected a certain IP address offering at least three child pornography videos for trade. The videos included sex acts between adults, juveniles and young children.
Police found that the IP address was associated with an AT&T account at 454 S. Rex Boulevard in Elmhurst.
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On August 5, 2020, Elmhurst Police went to the house and confronted Cefolia about the downloads to his IP address. According to the police report, Cefolia denied downloading child pornography after he was shown an Excel spreadsheet with file names. He also told officers that he did not know what "peer to peer file sharing" was.
"Peer-to-peer file sharing [is] where people will download images of child pornography…to get their fill," said cyber crime expert Richard Wistocki.
Police confiscated several tech items, including a Playstation 4, HP Elitebook and cell phones. The Cybertower PC hard drive confiscated at Cefolia's house was found by forensic computer analysis to include several files of child porn, with titles including words like "family incest" and "lesbian preteens." The web history showed searches for child pornography and teen pornography.
On the morning of August 7, 2020, Cefolia was last seen at an Elmhurst gas station. His ex-wife called 911 the following afternoon, which was the same day Cefolia's car was found at the Waterfall Glen forest preserve.
"Nobody’s heard from him. He’s acting very out of character," his ex-wife is heard telling 911 operators.
In October 2021, his remains were found at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in DuPage County.
Police documents show that Cefolia had joint custody of his own two children, who sometimes spent the night at his house.
Cyber crime experts say it's not unusual for child predators to be in high-up positions of respect and authority.
"I've had engineers, I've had IT presidents of major government installations, I've had people with jobs at government labs, I've had professors, I have had doctors," Wistocki said.