MN - Paynesville Late 80s Sexual Assaults

Fukiyama

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Eleven cases and counting... from [joy.the.curious] is a good summary of what has been tracked down by Joy Baker through research and by seeking out those who were assaulted or on whom assaults were attempted.

All the assaults took place in and around Paynesville, Minnesota during the late 1980s.

The following is a list of incidents from Joy's blog.

  • March 9, 1986 – Attempted drive-by abduction of 12 year old boy near G&T Foods
  • June 1986 – Three kids playing hide-n-seek at middle school playground, Town & Country Days
  • August 1986 – By the river? At the middle school playground?
  • November 30, 1986 – Alley between the middle school and hospital
  • February 14, 1987 – Ben Franklin, downtown, 122 West James Street
  • Spring 1987 – By the river? At the middle school playground?
  • May 17, 1987 – By the hockey rink at the Catholic church, two boys riding bikes
  • Summer 1987 – By the river #2, camping incident, man spying on group of boys
  • September, 1987 – By the river #3, man in parka with orange lining, Lyndall Avenue
  • Late 80s or early 90s – Boy chased from middle school to his aunt/uncle’s house
Plus the one Joy details in the linked blog post to make eleven.

These assaults may or may not be associated with the case of Jacob Wetterling.
 
Does le have a similar list? I've heard rumors that these attacks do not comprise many victims, anybody know?
 
Does le have a similar list? I've heard rumors that these attacks do not comprise many victims, anybody know?

I assume LE has a list of reported assaults. As Joy points out at her blog, quite a few of the incidents went unreported due to a child being chased, but not assaulted, so the parents blew it off.
 
How many assaults?

I don't know off the top of my head. Have you read the relevant blog posts at Joy's blog? You can probably do the math as I think she notes when describing the incidents which ones were actually reported and which ones weren't.
 
Wetterling investigators take fresh look at similar cases
Trisha Volpe, KARE 11:23 p.m. EDT May 14, 2014

Jacob Wetterling, then just 11-years-old, was abducted on Oct. 22, 1989, in St. Joseph. The case remains open. Earlier that year a 12-year-old Cold Spring boy named Jared was also abducted and assaulted not far from where Jacob was taken.


Jacob Wetterling abduction site focus of search
Video report May 14, 2014

New Developments Revealed In Jacob Wetterling Abduction Case

May 14, 2014 10:00 PM

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — There is a new development in one of Minnesota’s most infamous unsolved crimes: the abduction of Jacob Wetterling.

A masked stranger grabbed the 11-year-old as he biked home from a store in St. Joseph nearly 25 years ago. Now, WCCO-TV has learned that a cluster of at least six unsolved sexual assaults on boys were never looked at as a possible lead in Wetterling’s case.

[...]

This new development in Minnesota’s most notorious kidnapping case begins in the most unlikely of places.

WEB EXTRA: Read Joy Baker’s Blog

“The police chief is asking for the public’s help in finding this guy who has been assaulting 12-16 year old boys,” Baker said of one article. “What went through my mind is that they have to be connected. How many psychopathic pedophiles can exist in a 20-mile radius?”

WCCO-TV asked Patty Wetterling if she had ever heard of the Paynesville cases and showed her two of the original police reports from the Paynesville attacks.

“We did not know about these cases until Joy Baker put it on her blog, and it was like, ‘Wow,’” Patty Wetterling said.
New London Blogger Suggests Link Between Wetterling Abduction, Paynesville Incidents
By Jim Maurice May 14, 2014 10:30 AM

ST. JOSEPH – A New London woman has raised questions about attacks on children in Paynesville in the mid-1980s and a possible connection to the abduction of Jacob Wetterling. Joy Baker writes a blog called Joy The Curious in which she explores on-line mysteries and other topics.

Baker says, “there’s actually one case of a child abduction in Cold Spring, and that happened nine months prior. But, before that even, 1986 and 1987 there were these incidents of attacks on young teenage boys between the ages of 12 and 16. There were five cases that were reported in the newspaper and we’ve since found at least two more and possibly four more.”
Abduction Victim Speaks Out On Wetterling Case
May 15, 2014 6:45 PM

“I was told to run don’t look back or he would shoot,” Jared said.

His description of the kidnapper’s threat is almost identical to the one described by Jacob Wetterling’s friend, Aaron.

“He grabbed Jacob and told me to run as fast as he could or he would shoot,” Trevor Wetterling said.

For Jared, the weeks after the Wetterling abduction were filled with grueling interviews with law enforcement.

“They brought me to a point where I broke down, just mentally broke down. They wanted the answer and I didn’t have the answer,” Jared said. “My parents made that decision we should move.”

[...]

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office is now actively investigating all of the Paynesville cases to see if they are connected to Jacob Wetterling’s disappearance.

If you have any information about the Paynesville attacks or the Wetterling case, please call the Stearns County Sheriff at (320) 251-4240. You can also call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

My post copied from the Jacob Wetterling media thread.
 
These assaults are being investigated as part of the Jacob Wetterling investigation. There is a very active thread in the Missing but not Forgotten; 1980's section of WS. It is worth checking out.
 
These assaults are being investigated as part of the Jacob Wetterling investigation. There is a very active thread in the Missing but not Forgotten; 1980's section of WS. It is worth checking out.

This thread was originally requested in that thread. :)
 
Paynesville victims recount painful attacks in the years before Wetterling was kidnapped

http://www.startribune.com/paynesvi...rs-before-wetterling-was-kidnapped/348576511/

“I felt like they abandoned us, like ‘who cares, you know, they’re a bunch of kids, they’ll get over it,’ ” Cole said. “But to tell you the truth, we haven’t.”

'Living in Paynesville then, with “a lurking, shadowy figure” on the loose, was terrifying, he said. The fear was made worse by the community’s indifference, he added. “I remember feeling like nobody would listen to us. Nobody was taking it seriously.” The school didn’t get involved, he said, and teachers said nothing.'
 
Paynesville victims recount painful attacks in the years before Wetterling was kidnapped

http://www.startribune.com/paynesvi...rs-before-wetterling-was-kidnapped/348576511/

“I felt like they abandoned us, like ‘who cares, you know, they’re a bunch of kids, they’ll get over it,’ ” Cole said. “But to tell you the truth, we haven’t.”

'Living in Paynesville then, with “a lurking, shadowy figure” on the loose, was terrifying, he said. The fear was made worse by the community’s indifference, he added. “I remember feeling like nobody would listen to us. Nobody was taking it seriously.” The school didn’t get involved, he said, and teachers said nothing.'

People did not know about sexual abuse. When Jacob happened and I brought it up to people where I lived in rural MN, it was known about but an an accepted part of families that were considered undesirable. Just like domestic violence was considered to be family business and no concern of anyone else.

Jacob changed all of those ideas about child sexual abuse
 
Paynesville Assault victim wonders if Wetterling abduction could have been stopped

"It's something that sticks in your head. You never forget,” he recalled.

Cole explained that perhaps he never wants to know who exactly caused him so much pain. He remains frustrated that his community appeared to minimize the significance of the assaults when they were first reported, remembering people mockingly dubbing the attacker "Chester the Molester." With the Wetterlings still so desperate for answers a quarter century later, he wonders why police didn't do more to crack the Paynesville cluster in time to possibly stop a monster."


http://www.fox9.com/news/49908959-story
 
another interesting tidbit from the article above, the perp took a clipping of his hair and his stocking hat.
 
Hindsight is 20 20. Even today women in the US struggle with reporting rape. Back then, it was considered that women were asking for it because of what they wore or where they went. If you saw recent ads for a Beer where they talk about saying, "No", and real rape talk by politicians, we see that 26 years later sex crimes are still an issue.

I think that sex crimes about children have gotten better, but look at the Catholic church and Sandusky, Look how upset people get over those victims bringing up their victimization. How about the Duggars?

26 years ago things were far worse looking at sex crimes. So, I am not surprised that nothing much happened
 
Did the victims ever talk to the JW resource center or the Wetterlings back in 89 or 90?

It astounds me how many people knew things but there was no gossip out there except for untrue things about the Wetterling family
 

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