Jon David from wetlands dead at 46
 

Entrepreneurial porn site master Messner dies
Nancy Powell
Associate Editor

(April 8, 2005) The man who sent flowers anonymously to every resident in the Berlin Nursing Home for Christmas died this week. That gesture was just one of several that Jon David Messner made without the recipients knowing the name of the giver.

He did not want his gifts or money turned down because of possible prejudice against him. He was best known as a pornographer, but he also used his computer savvy to work on national security issues and to hijack a militant Islamic website promoting the terror organization, al-Qaida.

His ability to use the Internet to investigate and to capture the site led to an invitation to speak at the country’s war college, the National Defense University. It was a highlight of his life.

Although he started spending most of his time monitoring several websites he set up to search for terrorist activity, he maintained the site that made him and his wife known around the world. Started from a corner in their Ocean Pines house, the website featured amateurs posing nude.

The site gained notoriety and the Messners were featured in national magazines and on many television shows, including Dateline NBS, plus shows in Europe. A film about them and their site was promoted at the Cannes Film Festival.

Messner branched out into more mainstream endeavors and owned an Internet Service Provider for a few years.

His success earned him millions and he was generous with his money. In 2001, he gave a limousine to charity and although that gift was written about, he said he usually liked to make donations anonymously. He just liked to do nice things for people, he said. He particularly enjoying sending flowers to people in the nursing home so they would know someone cared about them, he said.

He bought an Ocean City condominium and then his dream home in Lighthouse Sound in 2001. An accomplished artist and photographer, he put decorative finishes on many of the walls and then filled the home with his photographs. He loved the home, but it was that home, he would say, that led to his illness.

In a lawsuit filed against Monogram Building and Design and other firms last summer, Messner contended water got into the house and caused a mold infestation problem. He had photographs showing himself sitting in the living room holding an umbrella because of water entering the house.

Messner became ill, was hospitalized a number of times and had varying diagnoses. Eventually, he was told that the mold had made him sick.

In December 2003, the Messners left their dream home, which had become a nightmare and moved to an Ocean City apartment. He was too ill to run his pornographic website and the income was reduced to what he said was a moderate level.

He had respiratory and memory problems and did not expect to recover.

One benefit, he said, of the changes in his life since becoming ill was that his family had become closer. He cherished being with them, he said.

Messner seldom left his apartment, not wanting to be seen and not wanting to be pitied.

He ended his life on Monday. He was 46 years old. He is survived by his wife, Cherie, a son and a daughter.

Funeral services were to be private.

WOW!! that is so young. He was a real nice guy and a long term client.

I am sorry to hear this news. Our thoughts are with his family.

WOW! I had no idea about his sickness. I'm at a loss for words.

mmmmmmmm me thinking i dont know him, but then hell 46 age its soooo young its only 6 years younger then my parents are and i am 36 soon 37 dont tell anyone, i dont wanna die young.........Stu--->>> stopped smoking is on a diet and hope to be the pretty healthy wife who can bug her hubby and kids for a longgggggggggggggggg time

Crazy. Wetlands was one of the first programs I promoted, back in the day.

Mold? That's nuts...

I find it hard to imagine ending my life over a mold illness, but thankfully I've never been really ill. If I had a painful terminal illness I wouldn't want to suffer pointlessly and helplessly...

Yeah, he was one of a kind. I remember him coming on the scene with a story about Dateline doing a story. Nobody believe him...until it was really on.

Mold huh??? I heard it was something else.

Damn, very sad to hear this. I have never met Jonboy personally, but he has helped us many times via email and has invited us to his home on a few occasions whenever we were in the area.

Damn that really sucks, he was a great guy and I will miss his humor and his willingness to help people he didn’t even know.

A sad day in this industry.

My understanding is that the mold either brought on or activated lou grieg's disease, and that is what got him. I remember promoting him in the day too... I was wondering why he had been so quiet the last couple of years, now we all know.

Dream home to death sentence in 4 years. Is that not fucked up or what?

Alex

Yeah, I didn't realize it, but this is the around the same time period that I last heard from him, I had written him a few times and never heard back, didn’t really think much about it at the time.

This really hit close to home.

Death sucks :(

It's very sad, my deepest condolences to his family :(

oke dont hit me but what is the mold?

Mold, as in spoors from mildew, like in a very dirty shower stall, after things get wet and "rot" mold will grow and the spoors will become airborne and when you breathe it, it can become VERY dangerous, as in this case.

eww that sounds so bad, oke i understand now better thanks for explaining

His publicity stunts were fantastic - didn't he do something with flashing pics at a local strip mall & the city came after him because of it & he exposed that they would have had to join the site & then find the pics on the members area?

I remember him saying how many new members he got the weekend the story ran on the local news :D

I'm totally shocked by this. I was just thinking of him a few days ago & was meaning to ask Torn if he had talked to him as of late. Even though we had never meet him, his generous nature showed through online.

His family is in our thoughts. :(

Yeah I remember something like that Greenguy, he has been in more court cases over porn then anyone else that I know or know of.

I think about 3 or 4 years ago he mentioned on another board about getting his dick enlarged, I thought he was joking but he actually got 3" added to the length and 2" in girth, which started a huge thread and he even posted pics of before and after.

Guy was a nut who just loved to live life.

CNN did a story on him right after 9/11 when he hacked an al-Qaida website, and they talked about his porn business and showed his house and things. He had contacted the FBI, and Secret Service and so many other law enforcement agencies telling them what he did and no one knew what it meant, so they kept blowing him off but he kept trying and I guess finally got through to someone after 9 months or so of trying.

Guy had some serious balls, took on the Laws here and al-Qaida.

...a sad loss for the industry.. Wetlands is legendary..

DD

I'm too new to know him, but it sounds like a great loss to the business.

Fungal spores are frightening, they were the executioners for the curse of the Pharaohs.

That is so sad. Jon David and Cherie are the reason I started my site. When I read about them, I figured if they could do it, so could I. He gave me all sorts of help and advice. A great guy, who will be missed... :(

Their appearance on Dateline is what inspired me to start my own site back in '98. When I had issues with streaming live video, I sent him an email asking for help and he called me! He didn't know me at all but, took the time to work with me until it was running right. Helluva nice guy. So sad to see this happen. My thoughts are with his family.

Damn, I was going to be the one who said about Egyptian tombs.

But in all seriousness, thats a sad thing.

:( :( :(

So sad.. and what a death in the 21st century :(

We was brilliant. I used to live a few miles from him and remember when the news announced that a web site featured local wives. Every jealous husband, boy friend or horn dawg that had the hots for some neighbor joined the site. He was selling memberships to people that didn't even have computers. Many of these rednecks had no idea what the Internet was until they signed up.

Imagine getting 100s maybe 1,000s of members in a week from just one small local community.