What happened to Jessica Vega?

Publish date: 2024-05-21

In January 2013, Jessica Vega was kidnapped by an online MySpace friend and ex-convict named Kirk Levin, who had been released from prison just days before the incident. Levin reportedly lured Vega out of her Storm Lake, Iowa, home and asked her to drive him to his mother's house before kidnapping her and driving off. She made a narrow escape after their car was met with a minor accident.

But that wasn't the only crime Kirk Levin committed that day. Reports state that before kidnapping Vega, he repeatedly stabbed his mother to death before heading out of the house. Levin claimed to not remember most of it but was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and third-degree kidnapping.

ID's Dead Silent is slated to revisit Jessica Vega's kidnapping in an episode titled The Sinner and the Saint. The synopsis states:

"When a troubled young man befriends Jessica Vega via social media, the kind-hearted college student and single mother does her best to steer him toward a better path; unfortunately, her good intentions come back to haunt her."

The episode will air on the channel this Friday, April 7, at 7 pm ET.

Kirk Levin lured Jessica Vega out of her house on the pretext of his car's spark plugs malfunctioning

Jessica Vega was online friends with her kidnapper Kirk Levin (Image via IMDb)

Jessica Vega was a student at Buena Vista University when she met Kirk Levin online on Myspace. They became good friends before the latter was sent to prison on a burglary charge. The two wrote to each other for a while, but in the morning hours of January 3, 2013, a few days after his release from prison, Levin knocked on Vega's Storm Lake apartment window, asking for help.

Levin initially told her that his car's spark plugs were malfunctioning, but he later changed his story and claimed to have run out of gas. She made the decision to assist him and drive him back to Early, Iowa, knowing she had to start an internship that morning. The two drove to a barn, and upon reaching it, Levin said, "I'm kidnapping you." She took it as a joke until he showed up with a rope.

The kidnapper then grabbed Vega's car keys and drove her to his house, where he tied her up in the passenger’s seat, and drove down Highway 20, towards Storm Lake, her apartment. Their car soon ran into the ditch, and a passerby, Gary Schramm, a local farmer, stopped to help. Vega then convinced her kidnapper to untie her before running off to Schramm's pickup, who helped her escape.

Authorities later found his mother Marilyn Schmitt's brutally stabbed body at their house after Levin's arrest. He allegedly stabbed her multiple times before taking off to kidnap Vega from her apartment.

Kirk Levin was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree kidnapping, assault with intent to commit s*xual abuse, and assault while participating in a felony. During an interview, he claimed to have killed his mother, but said that he "can’t explain why or what I was thinking." He was convicted of first-degree murder and third-degree kidnapping in connection with both cases.

Learn more about the case on ID's Dead Silent episode airing this Friday at 7 pm ET.

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