SAN DIEGO - (CBS 8) - The father of missing San Diego State student Donna Jou is teaming up with a local company to make the internet safer. Safelist.com is hoping to prevent criminal from going online to target unsuspecting victims.
On Safelist.com, nobody can be anonymous. That's the key to keeping buyers and sellers safe, according to Safelist's founder Karina Pirani.
"When you are doing a transaction on Safelist you know that the person you are conducting business with is somebody who has been verified. That means they are not a criminal hiding behind a web browser," Pirani said.
In order to buy or sell on Safelist, you have to provide your name, address and date of birth. The website verifies you are a real person, and even provides free criminal background checks. Safelist is now up and running in San Diego.
"The ultimate goal, obviously, is to have Safelist available to everybody across the country," Pirani said.
Reza Jou, the father of missing SDSU student Donna Jou, decided to invest in Safelist after a sex offender met his daughter online.
"She was very smart in book but not much about street knowledge," he said.
In 2007, the 19-year-old student posted an ad on Cragslist offering her services as a math tutor. Sex offender John Burgess responded, and eventually pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, claiming the teenager overdosed on drugs. He said he dumped her body in the ocean. It's a story Jou's father does not believe.
"Where is the body? There is no DNA, no witness, and he failed a polygraph test as well," Reza Jou said.
Jou believes his daughter may have been sold into sex trafficking, and continues his own investigation as Burgess serves out his final year in jail. He says he helps to fund Safelist so no other father has to go through what he has been through.
"I do believe this Safelist is going to safe lives. It's going to save families," he said.
Jou says any money he makes from his share of Safelist's profits will be donated to charity.
