Jesse James Hollywood Eludes Police, FBI
$30,000 Reward Offered For Yearlong Fugitive's Capture
The hunt for Jesse James Hollywood continues.
The 20-year-old reputed marijuana dealer with the headline-grabbing name has been a fugitive from justice since August of last year. Now the FBI and Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials are hoping that a $30,000 reward will lead to his capture.
Hollywood is wanted in connection with the murder of 15-year-old Nick Markowitz, whose body was found by hikers in the mountains above Santa Barbara in mid-August 2000.
According to investigators, Hollywood was the mastermind behind Markowitz's abduction and murder. 
Court documents and reports by the Los Angeles Times indicate that Markowitz's death was tied to bad blood between the youth's brother, Ben Markowitz, an acknowledged drug dealer, and Hollywood. According to Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials, the older Markowitz owed Hollywood close to $36,000. In a hastily made decision to try to collect the money, Hollywood and four friends allegedly kidnapped Nick Markowitz. The plan was to hold the West Hills teen until his brother made good on the debt, according to investigators. 
But things began to unravel soon after the Aug. 6 abduction, the Times said. Hollywood apparently contacted a lawyer to find out the depth of trouble he was in and decided then that Markowitz would have to die, prosecutors believe. For two days, the teen was shuttled to different locations and hangouts, as his handlers waited for word about what to do with him, the Times reported. 
Overall, his treatment was said to be pretty good. One witness told authorities that Markowitz began to perceive his abduction as more of an adventure, something to tell "my grandkids about," he was quoted as saying.A teenage girl who met the 15-year-old at the home of one of his alleged abductors said that she asked him why he didn't take advantage of one of the many opportunities he had to run away. According to the girl, Markowitz replied: "I've taken self-defense and stuff; it's not like I couldn't do anything right now. I just don't want to. I don't see a reason to. I'm going home. Why would I complicate it?" 
Markowitz apparently had been led to believe that he was going to be taken home right up to the night of Aug. 8, when he was taken at gunpoint to a deserted campground and shot nine times. The trauma of losing their youngest son is something that Jeff and Susan Markowitz say that they deal with on a daily basis. "We have a life sentence," Jeff Markowitz told reporters at a press conference Monday. In addition to the $20,000 that law enforcement has offered for information that leads to Hollywood's capture, the Markowitzs are offering $10,000 of their own money. 
"We can give Jesse Hollywood our portion of the reward toward his younger brother's college education," Jeff Markowitz said, hoping to provide an incentive for Hollywood to turn himself in. "The fact is that I want him caught and I want him convicted." Four of the fugitive's alleged cohorts are facing trials for kidnapping. Graham Pressley, 17, Jesse Rugge, 20, William Skidmore, 20, and Ryan Hoyt, 21, have all pleaded innocent. According to authorities, Hoyt was the triggerman, allegedly agreeing to murder Markowitz to clear a $1,200 debt with Hollywood. 
The last reported sighting of Hollywood was Aug. 23, 2000 . Investigators believe he could be in any number of places inside or outside the country, including Canada, Colorado or Mexico. The wily fugitive has proven adept at staying one step ahead of the police, Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokesman Bruce Correll told reporters Monday. "He is -- and I can't emphasize this enough -- a very elusive young man."
Court documents and reports by the Los Angeles Times indicate that Markowitz's death was tied to bad blood between the youth's brother, Ben Markowitz, an acknowledged drug dealer, and Hollywood. According to Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials, the older Markowitz owed Hollywood close to $36,000. In a hastily made decision to try to collect the money, Hollywood and four friends allegedly kidnapped Nick Markowitz. The plan was to hold the West Hills teen until his brother made good on the debt, according to investigators. But things began to unravel soon after the Aug. 6 abduction, the Times said. Hollywood apparently contacted a lawyer to find out the depth of trouble he was in and decided then that Markowitz would have to die, prosecutors believe. For two days, the teen was shuttled to different locations and hangouts, as his handlers waited for word about what to do with him, the Times reported. Overall, his treatment was said to be pretty good. One witness told authorities that Markowitz began to perceive his abduction as more of an adventure, something to tell "my grandkids about," he was quoted as saying.A teenage girl who met the 15-year-old at the home of one of his alleged abductors said that she asked him why he didn't take advantage of one of the many opportunities he had to run away. According to the girl, Markowitz replied: "I've taken self-defense and stuff; it's not like I couldn't do anything right now. I just don't want to. I don't see a reason to. I'm going home. Why would I complicate it?" Markowitz apparently had been led to believe that he was going to be taken home right up to the night of Aug. 8, when he was taken at gunpoint to a deserted campground and shot nine times. The trauma of losing their youngest son is something that Jeff and Susan Markowitz say that they deal with on a daily basis. "We have a life sentence," Jeff Markowitz told reporters at a press conference Monday. In addition to the $20,000 that law enforcement has offered for information that leads to Hollywood's capture, the Markowitzs are offering $10,000 of their own money. "We can give Jesse Hollywood our portion of the reward toward his younger brother's college education," Jeff Markowitz said, hoping to provide an incentive for Hollywood to turn himself in. "The fact is that I want him caught and I want him convicted." Four of the fugitive's alleged cohorts are facing trials for kidnapping. Graham Pressley, 17, Jesse Rugge, 20, William Skidmore, 20, and Ryan Hoyt, 21, have all pleaded innocent. According to authorities, Hoyt was the triggerman, allegedly agreeing to murder Markowitz to clear a $1,200 debt with Hollywood. The last reported sighting of Hollywood was Aug. 23, 2000 . Investigators believe he could be in any number of places inside or outside the country, including Canada, Colorado or Mexico. The wily fugitive has proven adept at staying one step ahead of the police, Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokesman Bruce Correll told reporters Monday. "He is -- and I can't emphasize this enough -- a very elusive young man." 
