From Cyber Books to Moses Mania, the Stories We’ve Brought You During the Year Have Had Some Surprising Developments : Still in Danger, Still in Hiding

Their daughter turned 13 and packed away her Barbie dolls. Their 15-year-old son still carries forest critters in the pockets of his cargo pants, but had his first girlfriend this summer. As for the parents--undercover FBI informants Connie and Dale Jakes--well, not much has changed. They’re still hiding out “somewhere in the West.”

Connie, a blond, blue-eyed freelance operative, and Dale, a part-time logger and explosives expert, slipped out of sight with the children when their last assignment ended in June 1996. They left the inner sanctum of the Montana Freemen, after an 81-day Freemen standoff against federal law enforcement.

In their book “False Prophets” (Dove, 1998), Connie and Dale say the siege--which was the longest in U.S. history--could have been averted if the government had acted sooner on tips they’d been sending out while working secretly inside the Freeman compound.

In any case, their names inadvertently were released by the government, so the Jakes family went into hiding while preparing to testify at the Freemen trial in Billings. The jury deadlocked in June; the government retried 10 Freemen in November on criminal charges including bank and mail fraud and armed robbery. Nine were convicted and will be sentenced in March.

But the story is far from over for Connie, Dale and the kids.

According to claims filed by their attorney, the government still owes Connie and Dale more than $316,000 for the time they spent living with the Freemen, wearing wires to record every speech and threat and, they say, putting themselves “in real and constant danger.” The government will not comment on the claim.

The Jakes’ cause has been taken up by Montana Sen. Conrad Burns and Rep. Rick Hill and the family has asked supporters to write to their own representatives to help expedite the payment.

“We still carry weapons--we still feel we have to,” says Dale. “But our desire is unanimous. We want to retire and, hopefully, one day, be forgotten.” If they receive the back pay, the family will move one last time. “This time,” says Connie, “we’d like to move into a nice little house in the mountains and live openly--but quietly--ever after.”