FBI Case 11.6.11

An FBI Case file discovered while the agents were engaged in Project Masticate

## Contents

### **Subject: Jacob Tillman Re: FBI Kidnappings and Missing Persons Unit**

In 1995, Jacob Tillman, six months old at the time, was reported missing by his mother, Delilah Tillman, outside a Wal-Mart in Campton, Kentucky. Mrs. Tillman claimed she placed her infant son in his car seat, moved to get into the driver’s seat, and the child just suddenly disappeared. Both Kentucky State Police and the FBI’s Kidnappings and Missing Persons Unit investigated. Grainy surveillance footage showed an unidentified woman walking up to Delilah Tillman shortly after she buckled up her son. The shorter woman appears to speak to Tillman for a moment, takes the car seat out of the back, and walks out of frame without a struggle. Delilah Tillman remains standing where she first addressed the woman, staring blankly into the depths of her purse for nearly thirty minutes.

Eventually, Mrs. Tillman can be seen panicking, running through the rows of cars and screaming her son’s name. It was nearly forty minutes after Jacob was removed from the car before Delilah Tillman returned through the Wal-Mart’s entrance to call the police.

Unsure why she would call the police after seemingly giving her son away to a stranger, suspicion immediately fell upon Delilah Tillman and her husband, Eli Tillman. The search to find missing Jacob soon turned into a witch-hunt as leaked police suspicions whipped the media into a frenzy. Though it remained beneath national attention, the Tillman’s found themselves growing increasingly infamous as the investigation wore on. Delilah’s lie-detector tests and toxicology reports both came back negative.

No witnesses, beside Mrs. Tillman and the security camera, could be found despite extensive canvassing and rewards offered. The couple got into a very heated argument in the midst of a press conference, with Eli going so far as to backhandedly blame his wife for their son’s disappearance on live television. When Delilah Tillman later killed herself, the suspicion against Eli Tillman redoubled, the media speculating that the parents sold their child for cash and Eli murdered his wife when she threatened to come clean. Mr. Tillman withdrew from public life entirely, refusing all questions from the media. Police press conferences indicate that Mr. Tillman remained cooperative with authorities and the investigation.

As the trail fizzled out, the media lost interest. The FBI gradually deprioritized the case over the years, though records indicate a persistent Eli Tillman maintained pressure on the assigned agents to the point where the case was never designated cold. There were no new leads in the case until February 2001.

### **Subject: Conradin Novak Re: Maryland State Police Department Re: FBI Kidnappings and Missing Persons Unit**

In February 2001, Maryland officials came into possession of nearly two dozen abandoned children, former residents of the Cornucopia Farm. Maryland officials responsible for cleaning up the mess at Cornucopia House only suspected the boy’s name was Conradin Novak. The child certainly didn’t volunteer one. In fact, he said nothing and spent his days in the facility staring at a wall. They only got a first name from the few kids that could talk, and they seemed too terrified to offer up anything beyond that. The boy responded to the call when it came time for meals, so that was enough for the first few weeks.

Eventually, someone got the bright idea to take DNA swabs of the kids and run them through the FBI’s Missing Persons Database. Only one match came back: Jacob Tillman. Tillman was the victim of a kidnapping in Kentucky in 1994 and had been missing ever since. The comparison sample was taken from a teething ring left at the scene of the crime. Jacob went missing when he was six months old, meaning that the boy now under the care of MCPS was almost seven years old. It also meant he had spent roughly 95% of his life in captivity.

The hit in the Missing Persons Database was reported. The FBI, owing to aggressive litigation by one Eli Tillman, had kept the case active. Jacob was picked up the next day and returned to his surviving biological parent, Eli Tillman. The FBI marked the case resolved, quickly classified everything, and seemingly set about trying to forget any of it had ever happened.

### **Subject: Eli Tillman (Litigation Resolution) Re: FBI Office of General Counsel**

Even before recovering his son, Eli Tillman had launched a number of legal cases, suing the Kentucky State Police, the FBI, and a number of media companies for millions in breach of privacy, defamation, slander, and libel damages. The defendants had been relying on two pillars to prop up their legal defense: First, Tillman lacked proof that he and his wife were not guilty of the supposed spurious allegations against them. Second, a lack of movement in the case invalidated the assertions of dereliction of duty on the part of the authorities. Having the disappearance suddenly resolved summarily destroyed both defenses. Suddenly, Mr. Tillman’s claims of defamation, libel, and slander had a concrete basis. Suddenly, Mr. Tillman’s accusations of incompetence, bias, and general neglect seemed very plausible to potential juries.

Lawyers for the KSP and the FBI-OGC settled to the tune of a few million dollars each. Several media outlets quickly followed suit. NDAs were, of course, stipulated and agreed to by all parties involved. And as a result, Eli Tillman did not need to work anymore. In fact, Eli Tillman was now a very rich man.

A memo notes that Eli Tillman sold his boat dealership, closed all his previous bank accounts, moved out of Kentucky, legally changed his son’s name, and filed a number of FERPA and HIPAA holds on their personal information. FBI personnel are forbidden from contacting the family under any circumstances lest they suffer severe disciplinary action.

A final memo in the case file indicates that all further inquiries should be reported directly to the Office of General Counsel. Tillman’s legal counsel and the FBI Office of General Counsel are the only current points of contact available in the file.

### **Subject: Jacob Tillman**

Hold: Minor (Overridden)

Hold: FBI OGC (Overridden)

Hold: FERPA (Overridden)

Hold: HIPAA (Overridden)

Agency Override: Δ

Designation: Classified

Office: Director of Research

Associated Workgroup: Project: Masticate

Associated Workgroup: Project: Seeming

Associated Workgroup: Project: Tell

Clearance: MAJIC

Access: Site Locked