3 shocking details about Jessica Vega's kidnapping

Jessica Vega's life took a traumatic turn in the early morning of January 3, 2013, when she agreed to assist her MySpace friend Kirk Levin, who had just been released from prison and came knocking on her door asking for help after his car started causing trouble. He then asked her to drive him to his home, where he kidnapped her. Vega had to use her wits and luck to escape the kidnapper.

A subsequent investigation revealed that kidnapping Vega was not the only crime Levin committed that day. Authorities also found Kirk's mother's dead body at her Early, Iowa, home. She was stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife.

Levin eventually confessed to his crimes and was thereafter found guilty of murder and kidnapping-related charges.

Kirk Levin, who kidnapped Jessica Vega in 2013, is now serving a life sentence in his mother's stabbing death (Image via Bonnie's Blog of Crime)

Dead Silent on ID chronicles Vega's kidnapping in an episode titled The Sinner and the Saint, scheduled to air on the channel this Friday, April 7, at 7 pm ET.

Here's the synopsis for the upcoming episode:

"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."

---

Jessica Vega's kidnapping: Three shocking facts to know about the incident that was preceded by a brutal killing

1) Vega was kidnapped by a 21-year-old whom she had met on MySpace

Jessica Vega was a student at Buena Vista University when Kirk Levin befriended her on MySpace (Image via IMDb)

When Jessica Vega and Kirk Levin first connected on Myspace, the former was a student at Buena Vista University. The two became fast friends before the latter was sent to prison on a third-degree burglary charge.

Levin was released from Mount Pleasant prison on January 1, 2013, after serving 26 months of a 5-year prison term.

Two days later, Levin knocked on Vega's Storm Lake apartment window, asking for help under false pretenses. He claimed that he was facing issues with his car to lure her out of her house. He then asked her to drop him off someplace, to which she agreed. The ex-convict then made the 21-year-old drive him to his mother's Iowa home, where he kidnapped her.

---

2) Jessica Vega made a daring escape and was rescued by a passerby

Kirk Levin reportedly tied Vega up in the passenger’s seat, and was driving down Highway 20 in her car when it ran into the ditch.

The minor accident caught the attention of a passerby, Gary Schramm, who was a local farmer. Schramm stopped to help, but Levin declined his offer. By then, Vega somehow convinced him to untie her, after which she ran off to Schramm's pickup, who then helped her escape.

---

3) Police discovered the dead body of Levin's mother while investigating Vega's kidnapping incident

Kirk Levin stabbed his 45-year-old mother to death before kidnapping Jessica Vega that same morning (Image via Bonnie's Blog of Crime)

After Jessica Vega reported Kirk Levin for kidnapping and assault, authorities found him hiding in a nearby barn.

While conducting an investigation into the kidnapping, they then found Levin's mother Marilyn Schmitt, 45, brutally murdered in an upstairs bedroom of her house. Schmitt's death was ruled a homicide after an autopsy revealed that she died of 88 sharp force wounds.

According to reports, Levin stabbed his mother to death in the early morning hours of January 3, 2013, sometime between 1:30 and 5:45, after which he left the house and drove to Vega's apartment. He later admitted to authorities that he was the only person who could have murdered the victim.

He was handed a life sentence that same year on a first-degree murder charge in Schmitt's killing.

---

Jessica Vega's kidnapping will feature on ID's Dead Silent this Friday.