Aug. 23, 2025
USA Unsolved 10 (WI) - John Lee
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USA Unsolved 10 features a case from Appleton, Wisconsin. A young man leaves his home one day, leaving most, if not all, his personal belongings behind. Where did John go? Did something happen to him?
If you have any information on the disappearance or whereabouts of John lee, please reach out to the numbers below:
Sgt. Chue Thao at (920) 832-5953.
Anonymous tips can also be sent by text message to 274637 with the keyword APDTIPS at the beginning of the message.
WEBVTT
00:00.431 --> 00:10.553
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to USA Unsolved, where we look into cases most of us have never heard of involving the Asian community, whether unsolved murders or disappearances.
00:11.573 --> 00:17.434
[SPEAKER_00]: I came across today's missing person, and a few others while doing some research on another missing person case.
00:18.235 --> 00:28.877
[SPEAKER_00]: While many of these people have been missing for many decades, their cases should still be looked into, as everyone missing should be found, and those that kill should be punished.
00:30.037 --> 00:38.326
[SPEAKER_00]: Today we are looking into a case of a missing person named John Lee, who disappeared from the city of Appleton in the state of Wisconsin.
00:39.187 --> 00:44.012
[SPEAKER_00]: His case classification is labeled as endangered missing on the Charlie project.
00:44.733 --> 00:48.316
[SPEAKER_00]: But the police seem to not find his disappearance suspicious.
00:49.378 --> 00:55.024
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see what information is available to us, and perhaps there may be ways to help spread the word.
00:55.685 --> 00:56.305
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin.
00:57.306 --> 01:00.310
[SPEAKER_00]: John Lee was born on June twenty six, nineteen ninety three.
01:01.191 --> 01:09.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of information out there on who John is as an individual or what his personal life was like.
01:10.743 --> 01:17.985
[SPEAKER_00]: What is known is that he lived to this family at twelve hundred block of East Taft Avenue in Appleton, Wisconsin.
01:18.965 --> 01:27.667
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Google Maps, the area looks like a nice suburban neighborhood, and the middle school is located right across the street from the Lee residence.
01:28.808 --> 01:33.969
[SPEAKER_00]: Appleton itself is set to be a mid-sized city that's very family friendly with good schools.
01:35.452 --> 01:41.414
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're looking for a city with a good mix of small town and large city vibes, Ableton would fit the bill.
01:43.414 --> 01:46.215
[SPEAKER_00]: So what kind of person was John, according to others?
01:47.235 --> 01:53.117
[SPEAKER_00]: The police sergeant who was tasked with John's case also happened to know John vaguely prior to his disappearance.
01:54.057 --> 01:58.158
[SPEAKER_00]: He described John a shy, but he was also struggling in some ways in life.
01:58.999 --> 02:09.127
[SPEAKER_00]: quote, he felt like he was pushed to the side and didn't get a lot of attention because as other three siblings were doing well, want to college and have their own careers.
02:10.008 --> 02:16.513
[SPEAKER_00]: John felt the pressure from the family, particularly since the parents had wanted him to go to college, unquote.
02:17.554 --> 02:22.497
[SPEAKER_00]: Being a child with multiple siblings can be hard, as not everyone may be treated the same.
02:23.558 --> 02:30.623
[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably even more difficult if you feel like you're not just being compared to them, but are also lagging behind everyone else.
02:31.964 --> 02:35.566
[SPEAKER_00]: But what happened right before and after his family noticed John's disappearance?
02:37.088 --> 02:42.892
[SPEAKER_00]: On June XXI, the little over ten years ago, the police were called to the Lee residence.
02:43.913 --> 02:52.619
[SPEAKER_00]: John had apparently called the police because he noticed that someone had trespassed into his home, and he reported some of his personal items as stolen.
02:53.640 --> 03:05.688
[SPEAKER_00]: The police took down the report, but it is unknown whether the case progressed any further, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, not just because it felt like a petty crime, but also due to what came after.
03:07.228 --> 03:16.290
[SPEAKER_00]: That same evening, it is stated that John left his family home by foot towards the direction of Lawrence University, which is north of where he lives.
03:17.170 --> 03:22.611
[SPEAKER_00]: His parents on leave, and some pedestrians also remembered seeing him heading in that direction.
03:23.772 --> 03:26.552
[SPEAKER_00]: However, he did not return home that night.
03:27.753 --> 03:33.034
[SPEAKER_00]: The following day on June twenty first, twenty fifteen, his family reported John as missing.
03:34.034 --> 03:42.124
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing is, John had a history of sometimes leaving for weeks, or even a month at a time, without telling anyone of his plans.
03:43.105 --> 03:51.615
[SPEAKER_00]: While this was something that house happened before, John would always have his personal belongings with him, and would let his family know after he loved.
03:52.723 --> 03:56.165
[SPEAKER_00]: Where he went, or why he loved, it's hard to tell.
03:57.366 --> 04:03.949
[SPEAKER_00]: It should also be noted that John also had a history of self-harm and had also attempted suicide years ago.
04:03.969 --> 04:10.613
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess this could be due to how he saw himself, or how he felt about his place in his family.
04:11.914 --> 04:15.776
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a professional, but it does sound like maybe John could have been depressed.
04:17.043 --> 04:25.548
[SPEAKER_00]: While he did receive some counseling and even psychiatric treatment for a suicide attempt, it is hard to determine how much it affected or helped him.
04:27.749 --> 04:34.113
[SPEAKER_00]: So the police, of course, now notified of John's disappearance, looked into his spareabouts just to make sure.
04:35.511 --> 04:42.873
[SPEAKER_00]: Unlike the previous times where John left voluntarily for some time, this time, John's car was found sitting at his friend's house.
04:43.873 --> 04:49.074
[SPEAKER_00]: What's even more suspicious and alarming is the fact that he left his mobile phone in his car.
04:50.174 --> 04:52.915
[SPEAKER_00]: All other personal belongings seem to have been left at home.
04:53.835 --> 05:03.937
[SPEAKER_00]: This was clearly a red flag, because even if someone wanted to go away and clear their head for a bit, wouldn't they need their wallet, phone, or maybe their car?
05:05.117 --> 05:07.318
[SPEAKER_00]: How far could he have gotten without these items?
05:08.398 --> 05:24.883
[SPEAKER_00]: While the family started to get more frantic about his disappearance, the police seemed to find John's disappearance as, quote unquote, not suspicious, largely due to the fact that he was not a known drug user, nor was he involved in anything illegal that could have made him any enemies.
05:25.963 --> 05:38.408
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of how they felt, police did go around checking records, interviewing friends and family, sent out drones, and even employed some dive teams to check nearby bodies of water to see what they could dig up.
05:39.569 --> 05:42.150
[SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, they came up and dehanded.
05:43.570 --> 05:53.074
[SPEAKER_00]: What's kind of uncomfortable about this case is that the first story published in the media about John's disappearance did not show up until almost two months after he disappeared.
05:54.294 --> 06:00.898
[SPEAKER_00]: Before that, only billboards, missing persons posters, and social media was utilized to spread the word.
06:02.038 --> 06:03.379
[SPEAKER_00]: Was this some kind of a stake?
06:04.099 --> 06:07.801
[SPEAKER_00]: Or was it because some people genuinely felt it was not suspicious?
06:08.562 --> 06:12.744
[SPEAKER_00]: Or did they kind of hope that John would eventually make contact and return home?
06:14.314 --> 06:26.904
[SPEAKER_00]: In an article found from Media Milwaukee, the topic of racial diversity in the newsroom was brought up in connection to not just John's case, but to other disappearances in Wisconsin involving Asian men.
06:27.865 --> 06:35.611
[SPEAKER_00]: While many times we hear about diversity and inclusion, it is not uncommon for the media to focus on cases that the audience will relate to.
06:36.872 --> 06:44.295
[SPEAKER_00]: A professor at the University of Wisconsin stated that, quote, it's the right people who are going to be valuable to your advertisers.
06:45.015 --> 06:52.778
[SPEAKER_00]: The audience has traditionally been imagined as white, middle to upper middle class people who have disposable income, unquote.
06:53.838 --> 07:04.182
[SPEAKER_00]: In an article by the Columbia Journalism Review, they stated that an average white male gone missing in Wisconsin would have been on forty-five new stories, both local and national.
07:05.103 --> 07:11.314
[SPEAKER_00]: The average Asian in a similar story would have received half of the attention and new stories.
07:13.050 --> 07:16.233
[SPEAKER_00]: John Lee disappeared only days before his twenty-second birthday.
07:17.153 --> 07:21.197
[SPEAKER_00]: Could he have left everything behind to start a new life away from his family?
07:21.857 --> 07:23.699
[SPEAKER_00]: Who he believes he had disappointed?
07:24.599 --> 07:28.503
[SPEAKER_00]: Could he have tried to hitchhike somewhere and somehow ended up with the wrong person?
07:29.603 --> 07:34.287
[SPEAKER_00]: Or considering his past, could he have decided to attempt suicide one more time?
07:35.468 --> 07:41.055
[SPEAKER_00]: If he did, I don't believe he could have gotten too far, considering the fact that he left everything behind.
07:42.216 --> 07:51.607
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, he could have just left with money in his pocket, taken a bus, but would people have noticed this man leaving town and heading in a certain direction?
07:53.048 --> 07:56.069
[SPEAKER_00]: Either way, John's family deserves to know what happened to him.
07:56.829 --> 08:03.271
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of what the family dynamics were or weren't, he is very much missed and they are still looking for him.
08:04.251 --> 08:13.954
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people have wondered if the trespassing and the burglary incident that took place before his disappearance could have been linked, but the police don't believe that's the case.
08:15.214 --> 08:17.335
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no reason to believe it's connected either.
08:18.919 --> 08:26.522
[SPEAKER_00]: If you or anyone you know could potentially have information on John Lee's disappearance, please reach out to the number listed in the show notes.
08:27.642 --> 08:34.284
[SPEAKER_00]: John is set to be between five five and five seven, weighing between two sixty five and two seventy five pounds.
08:35.225 --> 08:38.726
[SPEAKER_00]: He has black hair, brown eyes, and also wears glasses.
08:39.786 --> 08:42.587
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not known what he was wearing, the day he disappeared.
08:43.834 --> 08:47.201
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning into this case and please stay safe.
08:47.822 --> 08:52.050
[SPEAKER_00]: Reach out to a loved one or a professional if you ever thank you need to talk to someone.
08:53.292 --> 08:53.934
[SPEAKER_00]: Till next time.
00:00.431 --> 00:10.553
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to USA Unsolved, where we look into cases most of us have never heard of involving the Asian community, whether unsolved murders or disappearances.
00:11.573 --> 00:17.434
[SPEAKER_00]: I came across today's missing person, and a few others while doing some research on another missing person case.
00:18.235 --> 00:28.877
[SPEAKER_00]: While many of these people have been missing for many decades, their cases should still be looked into, as everyone missing should be found, and those that kill should be punished.
00:30.037 --> 00:38.326
[SPEAKER_00]: Today we are looking into a case of a missing person named John Lee, who disappeared from the city of Appleton in the state of Wisconsin.
00:39.187 --> 00:44.012
[SPEAKER_00]: His case classification is labeled as endangered missing on the Charlie project.
00:44.733 --> 00:48.316
[SPEAKER_00]: But the police seem to not find his disappearance suspicious.
00:49.378 --> 00:55.024
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see what information is available to us, and perhaps there may be ways to help spread the word.
00:55.685 --> 00:56.305
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin.
00:57.306 --> 01:00.310
[SPEAKER_00]: John Lee was born on June twenty six, nineteen ninety three.
01:01.191 --> 01:09.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of information out there on who John is as an individual or what his personal life was like.
01:10.743 --> 01:17.985
[SPEAKER_00]: What is known is that he lived to this family at twelve hundred block of East Taft Avenue in Appleton, Wisconsin.
01:18.965 --> 01:27.667
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Google Maps, the area looks like a nice suburban neighborhood, and the middle school is located right across the street from the Lee residence.
01:28.808 --> 01:33.969
[SPEAKER_00]: Appleton itself is set to be a mid-sized city that's very family friendly with good schools.
01:35.452 --> 01:41.414
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're looking for a city with a good mix of small town and large city vibes, Ableton would fit the bill.
01:43.414 --> 01:46.215
[SPEAKER_00]: So what kind of person was John, according to others?
01:47.235 --> 01:53.117
[SPEAKER_00]: The police sergeant who was tasked with John's case also happened to know John vaguely prior to his disappearance.
01:54.057 --> 01:58.158
[SPEAKER_00]: He described John a shy, but he was also struggling in some ways in life.
01:58.999 --> 02:09.127
[SPEAKER_00]: quote, he felt like he was pushed to the side and didn't get a lot of attention because as other three siblings were doing well, want to college and have their own careers.
02:10.008 --> 02:16.513
[SPEAKER_00]: John felt the pressure from the family, particularly since the parents had wanted him to go to college, unquote.
02:17.554 --> 02:22.497
[SPEAKER_00]: Being a child with multiple siblings can be hard, as not everyone may be treated the same.
02:23.558 --> 02:30.623
[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably even more difficult if you feel like you're not just being compared to them, but are also lagging behind everyone else.
02:31.964 --> 02:35.566
[SPEAKER_00]: But what happened right before and after his family noticed John's disappearance?
02:37.088 --> 02:42.892
[SPEAKER_00]: On June XXI, the little over ten years ago, the police were called to the Lee residence.
02:43.913 --> 02:52.619
[SPEAKER_00]: John had apparently called the police because he noticed that someone had trespassed into his home, and he reported some of his personal items as stolen.
02:53.640 --> 03:05.688
[SPEAKER_00]: The police took down the report, but it is unknown whether the case progressed any further, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, not just because it felt like a petty crime, but also due to what came after.
03:07.228 --> 03:16.290
[SPEAKER_00]: That same evening, it is stated that John left his family home by foot towards the direction of Lawrence University, which is north of where he lives.
03:17.170 --> 03:22.611
[SPEAKER_00]: His parents on leave, and some pedestrians also remembered seeing him heading in that direction.
03:23.772 --> 03:26.552
[SPEAKER_00]: However, he did not return home that night.
03:27.753 --> 03:33.034
[SPEAKER_00]: The following day on June twenty first, twenty fifteen, his family reported John as missing.
03:34.034 --> 03:42.124
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing is, John had a history of sometimes leaving for weeks, or even a month at a time, without telling anyone of his plans.
03:43.105 --> 03:51.615
[SPEAKER_00]: While this was something that house happened before, John would always have his personal belongings with him, and would let his family know after he loved.
03:52.723 --> 03:56.165
[SPEAKER_00]: Where he went, or why he loved, it's hard to tell.
03:57.366 --> 04:03.949
[SPEAKER_00]: It should also be noted that John also had a history of self-harm and had also attempted suicide years ago.
04:03.969 --> 04:10.613
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess this could be due to how he saw himself, or how he felt about his place in his family.
04:11.914 --> 04:15.776
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a professional, but it does sound like maybe John could have been depressed.
04:17.043 --> 04:25.548
[SPEAKER_00]: While he did receive some counseling and even psychiatric treatment for a suicide attempt, it is hard to determine how much it affected or helped him.
04:27.749 --> 04:34.113
[SPEAKER_00]: So the police, of course, now notified of John's disappearance, looked into his spareabouts just to make sure.
04:35.511 --> 04:42.873
[SPEAKER_00]: Unlike the previous times where John left voluntarily for some time, this time, John's car was found sitting at his friend's house.
04:43.873 --> 04:49.074
[SPEAKER_00]: What's even more suspicious and alarming is the fact that he left his mobile phone in his car.
04:50.174 --> 04:52.915
[SPEAKER_00]: All other personal belongings seem to have been left at home.
04:53.835 --> 05:03.937
[SPEAKER_00]: This was clearly a red flag, because even if someone wanted to go away and clear their head for a bit, wouldn't they need their wallet, phone, or maybe their car?
05:05.117 --> 05:07.318
[SPEAKER_00]: How far could he have gotten without these items?
05:08.398 --> 05:24.883
[SPEAKER_00]: While the family started to get more frantic about his disappearance, the police seemed to find John's disappearance as, quote unquote, not suspicious, largely due to the fact that he was not a known drug user, nor was he involved in anything illegal that could have made him any enemies.
05:25.963 --> 05:38.408
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of how they felt, police did go around checking records, interviewing friends and family, sent out drones, and even employed some dive teams to check nearby bodies of water to see what they could dig up.
05:39.569 --> 05:42.150
[SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, they came up and dehanded.
05:43.570 --> 05:53.074
[SPEAKER_00]: What's kind of uncomfortable about this case is that the first story published in the media about John's disappearance did not show up until almost two months after he disappeared.
05:54.294 --> 06:00.898
[SPEAKER_00]: Before that, only billboards, missing persons posters, and social media was utilized to spread the word.
06:02.038 --> 06:03.379
[SPEAKER_00]: Was this some kind of a stake?
06:04.099 --> 06:07.801
[SPEAKER_00]: Or was it because some people genuinely felt it was not suspicious?
06:08.562 --> 06:12.744
[SPEAKER_00]: Or did they kind of hope that John would eventually make contact and return home?
06:14.314 --> 06:26.904
[SPEAKER_00]: In an article found from Media Milwaukee, the topic of racial diversity in the newsroom was brought up in connection to not just John's case, but to other disappearances in Wisconsin involving Asian men.
06:27.865 --> 06:35.611
[SPEAKER_00]: While many times we hear about diversity and inclusion, it is not uncommon for the media to focus on cases that the audience will relate to.
06:36.872 --> 06:44.295
[SPEAKER_00]: A professor at the University of Wisconsin stated that, quote, it's the right people who are going to be valuable to your advertisers.
06:45.015 --> 06:52.778
[SPEAKER_00]: The audience has traditionally been imagined as white, middle to upper middle class people who have disposable income, unquote.
06:53.838 --> 07:04.182
[SPEAKER_00]: In an article by the Columbia Journalism Review, they stated that an average white male gone missing in Wisconsin would have been on forty-five new stories, both local and national.
07:05.103 --> 07:11.314
[SPEAKER_00]: The average Asian in a similar story would have received half of the attention and new stories.
07:13.050 --> 07:16.233
[SPEAKER_00]: John Lee disappeared only days before his twenty-second birthday.
07:17.153 --> 07:21.197
[SPEAKER_00]: Could he have left everything behind to start a new life away from his family?
07:21.857 --> 07:23.699
[SPEAKER_00]: Who he believes he had disappointed?
07:24.599 --> 07:28.503
[SPEAKER_00]: Could he have tried to hitchhike somewhere and somehow ended up with the wrong person?
07:29.603 --> 07:34.287
[SPEAKER_00]: Or considering his past, could he have decided to attempt suicide one more time?
07:35.468 --> 07:41.055
[SPEAKER_00]: If he did, I don't believe he could have gotten too far, considering the fact that he left everything behind.
07:42.216 --> 07:51.607
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, he could have just left with money in his pocket, taken a bus, but would people have noticed this man leaving town and heading in a certain direction?
07:53.048 --> 07:56.069
[SPEAKER_00]: Either way, John's family deserves to know what happened to him.
07:56.829 --> 08:03.271
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of what the family dynamics were or weren't, he is very much missed and they are still looking for him.
08:04.251 --> 08:13.954
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people have wondered if the trespassing and the burglary incident that took place before his disappearance could have been linked, but the police don't believe that's the case.
08:15.214 --> 08:17.335
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no reason to believe it's connected either.
08:18.919 --> 08:26.522
[SPEAKER_00]: If you or anyone you know could potentially have information on John Lee's disappearance, please reach out to the number listed in the show notes.
08:27.642 --> 08:34.284
[SPEAKER_00]: John is set to be between five five and five seven, weighing between two sixty five and two seventy five pounds.
08:35.225 --> 08:38.726
[SPEAKER_00]: He has black hair, brown eyes, and also wears glasses.
08:39.786 --> 08:42.587
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not known what he was wearing, the day he disappeared.
08:43.834 --> 08:47.201
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning into this case and please stay safe.
08:47.822 --> 08:52.050
[SPEAKER_00]: Reach out to a loved one or a professional if you ever thank you need to talk to someone.
08:53.292 --> 08:53.934
[SPEAKER_00]: Till next time.
