Jan 16, 2019 NY Times
GORDON, Wis. — Neighbors watch one another’s homes in the winter around here. They notice when there are unfamiliar tire tracks in the snow. Most of the 34 graduates of Northwood High School’s Class of 2015 keep in touch through text message.
Gordon is a tiny place, with a single convenience store, and until last week, a single resident who appeared to elude public notice despite nearly a lifetime of living here.
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On Thursday, former classmates said the accusations against Mr. Patterson — who was voted “most quiet” at Northwood High School and competed on the quiz team — felt like a punch to the gut.
“He was quiet, for sure, but not any out-of-the-ordinary quiet like something that would alarm somebody,” said one former classmate, who declined to be named out of fear of being ostracized in Gordon, where some residents believe speaking about Mr. Patterson is a betrayal of the town. In a photo given to The New York Times, Mr. Patterson sits in a corner, alone and behind his smiling, posing classmates, absorbed with his laptop.
One of his former teachers, in a text message to a handful of Mr. Patterson’s classmates, said the man accused of the kidnapping and killings was “not the quiet, smiley, bookish boy in the classroom” she knew. “As the days pass and more news trickles out, I’ll still hold the memory of that sweet boy in my heart. His future will look very different than yours.”
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Ron Kofal, a lifelong Gordon resident who lives about a mile from the cabin where Jayme was held, said he met Mr. Patterson at the ICO gas station on Highway 53. He said Mr. Patterson, whom he described as “clean cut and shy,” sometimes performed odd jobs around town, like yard work and cabin maintenance, and had seemed pleasant in his interactions with him.
The town of Gordon is dotted with small cabins that sit at the end of wooded roads. All-terrain vehicles and snowmobile trails snake through the forest. Residents, especially the hearty few who stay through the harsh winters, take pride in being on a first-name basis with neighbors.
But in recent days, at snowmobile club meetings and at bars where prize bucks are mounted on the walls, residents have asked themselves uneasy questions: How did they fail to notice the horror in their small town? And how had Mr. Patterson, the tall young man with the receding brown hair, managed to live there so long without raising alarm?
“Everyone else is outside having a bonfire and splitting wood, and playing with their kids,” said Adam Wilson, a manager of a grocery store who lives near Mr. Patterson. “It’s disturbing; it shows you just never know what somebody’s up to.”
Northwood High School
‘How Could We Not Know?’ Kidnapping Suspect Hid in Plain Sight
