Original air date: May 8, 1999

Written by: Juan Carlos Coto

Directed by: James Whitmore, Jr.

Jarod gets help fom the police profiler Samantha Waters as he investigates the mysterious disappearance of a 13-year-old skateboarding and chess wiz.

Jarod’s Discoveries:

Jarod’s Occupations: Detective

Jarod’s Aliases: Jarod Doyle

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Jarod joins forces with profiler Samantha Waters in his effort to locate a missing boy.

Bryce Banks, a 13-year-old skateboarding whiz, makes his way to a darkened school courtyard.  He is approached by a man whom we will call Big Joshua.  Bryce reacts with surprise upon meeting Big Joshua in person, as he had identified himself as an eighth-grader during their correspondence on the Internet.  Bryce attempts a getaway, but Big Joshua abducts him.  As Big Joshua’s vehicle speeds away from the scene, the school courtyard is rocked by a massive explosion.  Meanwhile, Jarod finishes his latest mission, which required the impersonation of an Atlanta police officer.  But before he leaves the station house, word of Bryce’s kidnapping is broadcast by a dispatcher.  Jarod informs Captain Brandt that he will investigate the case.

Jarod meets Detective Carl Logan at the home of Bryce’s parents, Nora and Phillip.  Nora informs Jarod that Bryce was supposed to compete in city chess finals on the upcoming Saturday, but wanted to go off skateboarding with his friends instead.  His disciplinarian father prevented him from going skateboarding.  Jarod searches Bryce’s computer for clues.  He discovers that the boy had arranged to meet an Internet friend named Joshua so they could play chess face to face.  Meanwhile, Big Joshua holds Bryce captive inside his basement.  Referring to the boy as “Joshua,” he drugs Bryce and attempts to brainwash him with a montage of video images.

Mr. Parker asks his daughter for her help.  It seems that Brigitte has been behaving erratically of late, and Mr. Parker has no where else to turn.  Reluctantly, Miss Parker agrees to look into the matter.

Jarod and Logan’s investigation hits a dead end.  They received some unexpected help from Samantha Waters (from the television series Profiler).  Sam tells Jarod and Logan that the kidnapper’s m.o. matches a man who abducted eight boys in the 1980s.  Though six of the missing boys turned up dead, two of them remain unaccounted for.  Since the kidnapper’s last victim was held only seventy two hours before he was killed, Jarod realizes time is running out.

Meanwhile, Miss Parker spies Brigitte sobbing in a bathroom while injecting herself with a syringe.  She assigns Broots to investigate further.  Later, Broots enters Mr. Parker’s office, where he begins searching for clues.  He discovers a syringe in a trash can and places it inside an evidence bag.   Broots hides himself in the bathroom when the sound of Brigitte and Lyle’s voices fill the air.  It soon becomes apparent to Broots that the pair are having a secret affair.

Sam tells Jarod that all of the victims shared one thing in common: they were all cut-off emotionally from their fathers.  Mr. and Mrs. Banks tell Jarod that a reporter who covered Bryce’s chess matches seemed rather odd.  This tip leads Jarod to the kidnapper’s name: Joshua Meyers.  He and Logan enter Meyers’ shack, where they discover hundreds of photos of Bryce.  Suddenly, a man begins shooting at the pair.  When the man, who we will refer to as Little Joshua, runs out of ammunition, Jarod tackles him.  Logan and Jarod conclude that the man, who identifies himself as Joshua, is not the kidnapper, but the second boy whom police never found years earlier.  Samantha and Jarod agree that the entire scenario resembles what might be best described as a human pyramid scheme, one in which both Joshuas, who were themselves brainwashed as children, repeated the crime once they grew up.

Meanwhile, Big Joshua completes Bryce’s brainwashing…or so he thinks.  Though Bryce identifies himself as Joshua, at the first moment of opportunity, he attempts a getaway.  Big Joshua tackles him.

Miss Parker approaches her father, intending to reveal the affair between Lyle and Brigitte.  At the last moment, Broots pulls her aside.  Lab tests have revealed that the substance inside the syringe was a fertility drug.  When Miss Parker again approaches her father, she hears Brigitte and Lyle recount what precipitated their entrance into Mr. Parker’s office on the previous night.  Their version casts a perfectly innocuous light on the entire incident.  Miss Parker holds her tongue.  Moments later, Mr. Parker states that he and Brigitte intend to have a child.

As Jarod interrogates Little Joshua, he eventually connects with his true identity.  Little Joshua then aids with the investigation.  Thanks to his help, Jarod and Logan locate Big Joshua’s hideout.  The basement, however, is empty.  Jarod realizes that Big Joshua has taken the boy into the woods to kill him.  Moments later, Big Joshua removes a large hunting knife from his waistband.  But before he has the chance to stab the boy, Jarod tackles him.  Logan and other officers swarm Big Joshua and take him into custody.