Man Accused of Stealing Identity of Boy Murdered in 1982

May 6, 2010— -- When Jason Robert Evers applied for a passport in 2002 he had all the necessary information, including Social Security number, place of birth and mother and father's name.

Evers was issued the passport, but it wasn't until April 2010 that agents with the State Department made a startling discovery – Jason Robert Evers was murdered in 1982 when he was 3.

The man who officials claim assumed Evers' identity appeared in an Idaho courtroom Tuesday, charged with making a false statement in an application for a passport.

Authorities said the suspect worked as an inspector for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and believe he assumed the dead boy's identity when he was just a teenager.

Questions about the man's identity arose during a random cross-match of Ohio death records and passport records in accordance with a program run by the Diplomatic Security Services called "Operation Death Match."

The DSS, a division of the U.S. State Department, has won 120 federal convictions against people for federal passport or false identification offenses related to deceased people, according to the police affidavit against "Evers."

A death record was sent to a DSS agent who forwarded it to Special Agent Calvin Sherstan of the Diplomatic Security Service in Seattle, the affidavit said. The death record lists a Jason Robert Evers with the same birth date as the one on the passport application. Also the same were the parents' names, though the birth date of the father, Robert Evers, does not match.

Agents began searching the Internet for information about Jason Robert Evers, and uncovered Cincinnati Enquirer news articles from 2000, Sherstan said.

Internet Searches Revealed to Investigators That Jason Evers Was Murdered in 1982

"I reviewed this news article which, in sum, reported that Jason Evers was kidnapped from a park in Ohio on Father's Day 18 years prior and was later killed," Sherstan said in the affidavit.

Sherstan added that the article revealed that Jason Evers' mother had died and that his father moved to Indiana.

Indiana driver's license records were checked, uncovering the correct birthday for the father, Robert Evers.

"His listed birth date with the state of Indiana was not as was listed on Jason Evers passport application," Sherstan said. "This is further evidence to me that the passport applicant is an imposter because he did not know his purported father's birthdate."

The Social Security number used by the suspect was issued for the first time in 1996 in Colorado, leading Sherstan to believe that the man allegedly began using the false identity that year when he was just 17 years old, the same age the real Jason Robert Evers would have been if still alive.

The man officially now identified as John Doe worked as an investigator for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission from 2002 and resided in Idaho, according to the affidavit.

"When we went through our application with him and our background check, we had copies of Social Security cards, we had copies of his driver's license," Steve Pharo, director of the OLCC, told KOHD, an ABC News affiliate in Bend, Idaho. "I guess it would be appropriate to ask how much further we need to go back to catch something like this."

The suspect was investigated by the State of Oregon after several Oregon business owners accused him of unfairly applying local liquor laws, Christie Scott, public relations for the OLCC told ABC News. The investigation found "Evers" did not break any laws she said.

"He voluntarily demoted himself to licensed investigator," Scott said about "Evers" following the investigation.

According to Scott, after the investigation "Evers" demoted himself from regional manager to an investigator and began working in the town of Nyssa on the border with Idaho.

He was arrested a short time later, on April 27. He is being held by the U.S. Marshals, George Breitsameter, a United States assistant district attorney in Idaho, told ABC News.

"Right now he is on administrative leave without pay," Scott said.

"We're all just watching the court proceedings just like everyone else is. If he did indeed do what they are alleging, the OLCC would be just as much a victim as everyone else is," Scott said.

The suspect does not yet have a lawyer and hasn't entered a plea.

Others had kind words for him and described him as a "mentor."

"He seemed to me to be a great person," said Janelle Hess in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "He was as close as a brother. Would do anything for me. Loaned me money time after time in an instant."

Breitsameter said that he would likely be moved to Oregon for trial sometime next week.