 Jake was once a member of Jonah Prowse's group of survivalists; and, after a botched armed robbery job, in which Chris Sullivan (Jonah's son and the brother of Jake's girlfriend, Emily Sullivan) was killed, Jake fled Jericho.Five years later, Jake returned to Jericho to pay his respects to his recently deceased grandfather and to claim the money his grandfather left him.Because of the problems in their relationship, his father refused to hand over the money; and Jake was leaving town again when he witnessed the destruction of Denver.