But there were hints.
Born in Columbus, Kane moved to Springfield in 1975 and was a 1982 graduate of South High School.
He ran for city commission three times, the first time when he was 18 in 1983.
He was already looking askance at society, he told a recent audience of his radio podcast.
“The reason I look at things so differently is because when I was a child, I came home from school one day (and) my dad told me that something they had told me at school that day was a lie,” he said in a podcast posted online May 6 through the hosting service for his website.
“After he’d gone on about it for a while really angry, I asked him why would my teachers lie to me and — I hate to say this — but he turned into a coward at that moment. It was like he saw he had just opened up a great big can of worms and was trying to shove the worms back inside the can. He kept saying, ‘Never mind, forget it.’ ”
Kane said he wouldn’t let go of the idea that teachers could lie to their students.
“I kept pushing him the rest of the night. I did take one thing from the conversation and that is they’re lying to you. So ever since then all I’ve done is try to find out what the lie is. ...”
Kane’s first run for commission ended in ignominy when he had to drop out after being charged with stealing beer from a railroad boxcar parked downtown.
Roger Baker, the former mayor of Springfield and assistant principal of South High School when Kane was a student there, said, “I was totally amazed when I found out he’d done something illegal (back then).”
During his time at South, Baker doesn’t remember anything else that stood out about young Kane.
“I thought he was stretching to run for the city commission,” Baker said. “As I recall, he was one of those kids who never did anything spectacular, but everybody knew him.”
During his second failed attempt at a city commission seat in 1985, 20-year-old Kane said he had just received his real estate license and was working with a local company.
His last bid for city commission was in 1991, where his petitions to get on the ballot fell short by a single signature.
‘Off the deep end’
Kane served in the Army Reserves in the late 1980s, according to a friend, Tim Baulky, who served with him.
Baulky’s wife, Robin Black, was a classmate of Kane’s at South High.
Kane married the former Hope Drummond in 1991 and they lived during much of the 1990s in Hardin County, near Lima. He was a truck driver then, and their son, Joseph, was born there. Friends said they also had two daughters who survived. Hope Kane died in recent years, Black said.
The couple noticed a change in Kane about 15 years ago, after the death of a baby daughter from SIDS.
“He went off the deep end,” Black said.
Kane’s father, Jerry R. Kane Sr., died in 1999 and left his estate, with assets valued at more than $31,600 — a home on South Limestone Street, two cars and a motorcycle — to his wife, Patricia.
In the event of her death, the will left half of the estate to his other son, Thomas David Kane Sr., and just $1,000 to Jerry Kane Jr. The remainder of the estate would go to Jerry Kane Sr.’s three grandchildren — Heather M. Kane, Jessica Gullett and Joseph Taylor Kane.
A ‘threat’ to authority
Kane had had minor brushes with the law over the years — in 1992, he was arrested on a drunk driving charge, pleaded no contest and was found guilty of a lesser charge — but by 2003 he had completely rejected the notion of government and law enforcement.
In April of that year, Kane sent letters to several local businesses, including Jeff Wyler Springfield Auto Mall, U.S. Bank and Security National Bank demanding payment for “adhesion contracts.”
Kane also sent a letter to Springfield Police Division Chief Stephen Moody, advising that the police division owed Kane $10,000 — $5,000 for each time an officer “trespassed” on Kane’s property on South Limestone Street.
A former Clark County Auditor’s Office employee told sheriff’s deputies at the time that Kane was not threatening when he visited the auditor’s office.
“At no time was Mr. Kane aggressive or abusive, but (the employee) felt Kane was unstable,” officials noted in the report.
The employee also got the impression that Kane didn’t like law enforcement, as he didn’t stay long at the auditor’s office once a deputy came into the office.
In March 2004, Kane was in traffic court again for expired tags and a seat belt violation, according to Clark County Municipal Court records.
Judge Denise Moody sentenced Kane to six days of community service, a move that triggered increased anti-establishment ire.
Linda Durst, who owns a home next to Kane’s former property at 1515 S. Limestone St., said that at about the same time, Kane erected a sign in front of his house that denigrated the judge and hung a noose from a tree in his yard.
That July, Kane, with 9-year-old son Joseph by his side, paid a visit to Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly, asking for his intervention in Kane’s issues with Moody. Kelly said he was already leery of Kane and had him searched for weapons before he agreed to sit down with him.
Joseph was carrying a toy gun and mimicked the anti-government phrases his father used, Kelly said. Kane seemed aggressive, according to the sheriff.
Instead of intervening with the judge, Kelly issued a written memo to local law enforcement in which the sheriff urged officers to approach Kane with caution.
“He is rebellious and against government and the U.S.,” Kelly wrote. “Will have problems with this subject when trying to apprehend, armed and dangerous.”
In April 2002, Kane and his then-wife Hope were back in Springfield and had purchased a home at 1515 S. Limestone St.
In the summertime, the yard was typically unkempt with high weeds. Joseph “never went to school,” Jerry Kane later told an audience for one of his seminars.
In September of 2004, Kane was arrested on a charge of felonious assault after allegedly shooting a 13-year-old boy who was walking near his home, according to court records. The boy reportedly felt a pain in his leg, walked away to get help, and looked back to see Kane holstering a side-arm. Kane had a “crazed and angry look on his face,” according to police records.
The reporting officer wrote in an affidavit that Kane “apparently is a self-proclaimed ‘Freeman’ and has a mental history.”
‘This system is all fictional’
The signs of Kane’s anti-government beliefs were also apparent in his lengthy fight against the foreclosure of his Springfield home.
Just months after the Kanes purchased the house, JP Morgan Chase Bank/Homecomings Financial Network filed for foreclosure with the Clark County Common Pleas Court, saying the Kanes were in default on a principal balance of more than $38,400, plus 9.8 percent interest.
In response to the foreclosure filing, Kane represented himself and submitted a lengthy “Affidavit of Truth.”
In his decision, Judge Richard O’Neill described the gist of Kane’s legal argument that he and his wife are “‘legal fictions’ and either not amenable to the court’s jurisdiction or liable under a suit such as filed by JP Morgan.”
Kane’s affidavit had 60 points. Onestated: “The United States is BANKRUPT,” while another claimed that the bank “continues to attempt to collect a debt sans a bona fide validation of the debt.” He wrote that the mortgage was not a lawful contract.
The affidavit also demanded damages, including for more than $45,800, plus $426 in expenses for having to defend “this clearly frivolous and spurious complaint.”
Kane also demanded the release of “all encumbrances against my home” and that the case be dismissed.
He submitted a document that he also had filed with the county recorder called “Public Notice, Declarations, and Lawful Protest.” In it he set forth his philosophies and protests.
In multiple filings, Chase dismissed and denied Kane’s various assertions and documents, calling them “baseless” and that they “obviously have no legal or other significance.” Another stated that the affidavit “contains nothing even remotely related” to the bank’s legal filings.
The legal battle waged on until O’Neill issued a judgment entry and decree in foreclosure in 2006.
In his decision, O’Neill called Kane’s filings “nonsensical ramblings,” “frivolous, absurd” and “ridiculous assertions causing undue delay.”
“Jerry Kane has filed several documents with this court that do not in any meaningful way defend against JP Morgan’s action in foreclosure. ... The court is not amused,” O’Neill wrote.
Kane publicly shared his ideas through videos posted online and seminars he hosted all over the country.
“We’re going to keep in mind everything we’re doing here in this system is all fictional,” Kane tells viewers in one of his videos.
In an Aug. 2, 2009, video Kane claims that he went into the Clark County Treasurer’s Office and asked the treasurer if a promissory note was the same as cash to pay his property taxes. The inquiry so unnerved the treasurer, Kane boasted, that he was embarrassed in front of his staff.
“And for the next four years, I never got another property tax bill,” Kane declared to his audience.
County Treasurer Stephen Metzger, who has been in office for the last 21 years, does not remember meeting Kane “(But) I know that wouldn’t have happened.” Metzger said Saturday about Kane’s tax bill claim.
“The auditor assesses taxes, I just collect them,” Metzger said. “So I don’t agree with that at all.”
Kane’s property record cards for the property at 1515 S. Limestone St. — which is now a vacant lot — showed $1,089.77 in delinquent taxes in 2009 and a total of $1,309.24 owed.
‘Nobody hires me to do anything anymore’
Financially, Kane seems to have existed through a series of odd jobs and said in recent years that money was tight. He charged for the seminars and said he was depressed in January when he drove to Denver to hold one that had been advertised but no one attended.
“It does help to have bodies in the seats,” he said in his May 6 broadcast. “Everything I’ve been doing for the past few years has become a job for lack of a better word. Nobody hires me to do anything anymore. I’m not hired to do roofing or anything anymore.
“So in order for me to continue to be able to do this and help people, I have to have some sort of funds coming in. So that’s what I do. I do sell trusts and do private consultation as well.”
Kane considered himself a “free man,” a description the FBI has defined as a “sovereign citizen.”
“Sovereign citizens are anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States,” according to an FBI domestic terrorism website.
“As a result, they believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement,” the FBI summary states.
Holding those views is not a crime, according to the FBI memo, but people who espouse such views have been guilty of failing to pay taxes, holding illegal courts that issue warrants for judges and police officers and clogging up the court with “frivilous lawsuits.”
The site also notes that many of these individuals use fake money orders and personal checks at government agencies, banks and businesses.
Kane was most recently charged locally in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for forgery and theft of a car by deception. He was indicted on those charges in 2006 and was still wanted on the charges.
Kane appeared recently to be tiring of his life on the road, and said several times in his final broadcast that he was depressed.
“We tried to start a homeless shelter,” Kane said. “The first two people we got, all they had to do was put out eight hours of labor a week to stay there. Not only did they not do that, they stole from us. Everything sounds great until you put people into it. It’s really depressing.”
Kane and Joseph had been travelling the nation for months, rooming at low-cost hotels that let ttheir dogs stay with them.
In the broadcast, Joseph could be heard yelling.
“Joe’s being passionate about something in the background,” Kane said.
“Tell him to go into another room,” the radio host countered.
“He is in another room,” Kane said. “You know how ‘projective’ he can be.”
Violence no answer
Kane claimed in his videos that violence wasn’t the answer, or his intent.
“Violence doesn’t solve anything,” he said. “It’s not violence we’re after.”
However, Tim Baulky said Kane had predicted he would die in grand fashion one day.
“He had claimed more than once it would be suicide by cop and he was going to take as many of them with him as he could,” Baulky said. “Everybody knew something like this would happen. It’s not that he wanted to die; he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. He wanted his name to live forever.”
In one of his online videos on YouTube, Jerry Kane is seen giving a lecture in 2009 about his philosophy. He says, “I don’t want to have to kill anybody, but if they keep messing with me, that’s what it’s going to have to come out. That’s what it’s going to come down to, is I’m going to have to kill. And if I have to kill one, then I’m not going to be able to stop, I just know it.”
Ultimately, violence ended Kane’s life.
Authorities say Kane and Joseph opened fire on the West Memphis police officers who pulled over his white van during a traffic stop Thursday on Interstate 40.
Father and son were later shot to death after a police manhunt through the Memphis, Tenn., area that left two more law enforcement officers wounded.
The scene was chaos, with Memphis media reports showing the van surrounded by dozens of law enforcement personnel with guns drawn. A TV helicopter hovered above. Kane’s attempt to drive away was stymied when an Arkansas Wildlife officer rammed the van with his truck, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. During the shooting, one of Kane’s dogs jumped from the van and ran off, getting shot and wounded. Another was killed on the scene.
In a tribute page set up by his friends online, Kane and his son were said to be traveling home to Clearwater, Fla. Kane had recently married, a woman who identified herself as his wife told the Commercial Appeal, and he was looking ahead to settling down.
“I’m seriously considering cutting down on the travel and doing something based just in Florida,” he said in his May 6 broadcast. “If I can’t get more cooperation, it may be that if you want to learn something you have to come to Florida.”
Kane’s early hope to make a difference that sparked his first run for office was never realized.
Even during his recent broadcasts on foreclosure, Kane held on to the idea that he could affect change.
“It’s up to us to make them understand that what they’re doing is misguided,” he said.
This article was written by Bridgette Outten with reporting by Valerie Lough, Matt Sanctis, Samantha Sommer, Tom Stafford and Anthony Gottschlich.