The human remains found in the desert near Boulder City have been identified as a Boulder City teenager who went missing in June 2016.
The Clark County coroner’s office confirmed that the remains were Julion Jacoby Armand Jasinski, but said the manner and cause of his death were pending.
Jasinski’s mother, Matteson Mae Emmaery Langan, said confirming her son’s death has been “really, really tough on everybody. It’s surreal.”
Although the Boulder City woman said she knew in “her gut” that he was gone and had years to process her grief, others in the family held out hope that Jasinski would come home. She said his father, Chad Jasinski of Las Vegas, was devastated upon learning that the remains found in the desert belonged to his son.
Jasinski’s remains were discovered March 22 in the desert by Charles Chaffee of Boulder City, who was hiking in the hills behind his house.
Langan said her son liked to hike in the area where he was found.
According to Langan, the police department’s preliminary forensic tests indicated the remains belonged to Jasinski. Officers showed her the clothes that were found along with the bones and she was able to identify them as her son’s.
Though she is still coming to terms with confirming Jasinski’s death, she said she is grateful that they can put him to rest. Langan said she never expected to get anything belonging to her son back.
Langan said the family will have a public memorial in the future, likely in February on Jasinski’s birthday.
Jasinski was 19 years old when he was last seen alive in Boulder City at 9:45 p.m. on June 11, 2016, at the Panda Express on Boulder City Parkway. At that time, Boulder City Police said he was seen jumping into a white pickup truck.
She recalls that on his last day at home Jasinski had told her he had a rough day and was going to play video games at a friend’s house. She spoke to him around 4 p.m. about dinner and what time to come home.
They spoke again around 9:15 p.m., at which time Jasinski told his mother he was not coming home that night and began telling her how much he loved her over and over again, she said.
“He told me he would be home in the morning and he never came home,” she said.
Several weeks after his disappearance, his mother said he had a lung infection and needed to return home to be treated. She also noted he had been spotted in town a few times for about three weeks and then vanished.
In the weeks after Jasinski’s disappearance, Langan, his grandmother Marti Goss and other members of their family would bring food and water to homeless people in Las Vegas with the hope that someone would be able to share some information about his whereabouts. A YouTube video of the Bellagio taken by a tourist included an image of a man that Langan was convinced was Jasinski.
Langan said she is amazed by the number of people who have reached out to her since confirming her son’s death on social media, and how many have told her how Jasinski touched their lives.
It’s also given her the opportunity to reflect on his life. She said he was extremely intelligent and would often accompany her when she took college classes to become an emergency medical technician, even passing her tests.
Langan said he wanted to become a firefighter, doctor and retail store employee, working all three jobs at the same time while also attending college to obtain a degree in history. She said he was fascinated with historical artifacts, especially those connected to the Civil War.
She said he was happy sharing war stories with residents of the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home.
“He had big ambitions and I don’t think he missed anything,” she said.
Langan called her son a “teaching vessel,” and said that everyone who met him learned something from him.
In addition to his mother and grandmother, Jasinski is survived by his father and stepmother, Chad and Amy Jasinski of Las Vegas; a sister, Helen Jasinski; and grandfather, Dennis Jasinski.
Langan asks that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made in Jasinski’s name to the local BMX group or to an autism organization.
Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523. Follow @HalisComment on Twitter.