The Abduction October 22, 1989

kemo

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A man with some kind of mask accosted the three boys (Jacob, his older brother and a friend) as they walked near the driveway to DR's farm (which was set back quite away from the road). The man chose one of the boys (Jacob) and told the others to "run away". They ran towards the Wetterling house where they were staying at about a 1/4 mile away and called Jacob's parents, who in turn called 911.

Kevin, who had a Police Scanner, heard the dispatcher's call and went straight to the scene, No one is there so he waits, then a St Joseph PD patrolman shows up, figures him for a "lookie-loo" and tells him to "beat it" without taking any information. Apparently Kevin uses DR's driveway to turn around. Presumably other PD soon shows up.

DR later claims that he saw the police activity and call ST Joseph PD (was it a 911 call?) Accounts I have read do not make it clear if the intent of the call was to inquire about the police activity or to report seeing a car "turn around in his driveway".

The Police notice some vehicle tracks on the dirt driveway and child’s footprints leading a short distance up the driveway. They seem to have concluded that Jacob was taken to a vehicle in the driveway and driven away from there. We do not know what the basis for this was; was it DR's call, some other call, perhaps just a "hunch".

At that point, all resources are directed at a search for an unknown vehicle with an abducted child. Nobody goes up to DR's house to talk to him or "look around"; nor do they "knock on doors" of other houses in the area. They assume the Perp has left the area with Jacob. (Apparently DR and other neighbors were interviewed the next day).

When Kevin came forward years later, it opened up a whole new possibility: that there never was another car and the Perp lead Jacob away on foot. If this happened, DR's house was at the end of the driveway while there were no other houses in the immediate vicinity. The Perp with Jacob in toe would have had to walk 100 yards or more along the road.

The significance of Kevin is that he could have told the investigators where he was when he heard the dispatcher and the route he took to crime scene and when he got there. More importantly, he could have told them of any vehicles he passed coming from the direction of the crime scene. Very likely, they could determine if any reports of vehicles in the area were actually Kevin. Also, Kevin's tires could be used to compare with other tire tracks on the driveway.

SOP is to get statements from all potential witnesses (or suspects) as soon as possible. If DR reported a car in his driveway, that would be pretty important. This pins them down before memories fog and information starts to spread. When appropriate, it is also SOP to ask a witness/suspect for permission to conduct a "search". Most likely they would not do a thorough search but they would be very interested in the reaction to the request.

My own WAG (wild *advertiser censored* guess) is that the perp hid his car in DR's driveway and took off with Jacob after the boys had run some distance away, but who knows? It seems crazy for DR or any other neighbor, to abduct a kid, in front of two witnesses, that close to their own homes, but stranger things have happened.
 
Kidnapped boy gone one week
The Prescott Courier
By Laura Baenen
October 29, 1989

"I've been living basically moment to moment since Sunday night," said Jacob's father, Jerry.

Gov. Rudy Perpich, who visited the family Thursday, activated 100 Minnesota Army National Guardsmen to expand the search
Mounted deputies scour Minn. fields for abducted child
Masked man kidnapped boy, 11
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
October 27, 1989

Sunday night was the first time Jacob had been allowed to ride his bicycle after dark to go to a conveninece store, when he planned to rent a videotape, said his father, Jerry Wetterling. Jacob was accompanied by his brother, Trevor, 10, and by an 11-year-old friend. On the way back to the Wetterling house outside this central Minnesota town of 2,200, they were accosted by a man who had what appeared to be a pantyhose pulled over his head to distort his facial features. The two boys who escaped told police the man pulled a gun and asked them their ages, then ordered them to run away and threatened to shoot them. Not until they were a distance down the road did they realize Jacob wasn't with them.

FBI spokesman, Byron Giglerd said 20 agents had been assigned to the case.
Searchers ask callers for help in abduction
Gadsden Times
October 26, 1989
The Fox network's "A Current Affair" aired a segment on the abduction Thursday night, and Kostreba said telephones at search headquarters began ringing almost continuously as soon as the phone number was shown.

A group of anonymous Twin Cities business leaders Thursday night offered a $100,000 cash reward for Jacob's return unharmed within the next 72 hours.
Boy kidnapped
The Milwaukee Journal
October 27, 1989
More than 40 deputies set out on horseback Thursday to search dry fields near the spot where Jacob Wetterling was abducted by a masked man dressed in black.
Timberwolves Help
Reading Eagle
November 7, 1989
The Timberwolves said Monday they would donate all net proceeds from ticket sold from this point on for Wednesday's game to help the search for Jacob Wetterling.
Students send letters asking help in finding abducted boy
Reading Eagle
November 9, 1989
"If somebody would see it (the letter), they might see Jacob," said 11-year-old David Brinkman. "The might be able to alert somebody," added Cary Gottwald, 13.
A Town Prays for a Missing Son
People Magazine
November 20, 1989
By William Plummer, Margaret Nelson
It was after 9 P.M. when Jacob, his brother, Trevor, 10, and a friend, Aaron Larson, 11, were coming home from a Tom Thumb convenience store, where they'd rented the video of The Naked Gun. Patty Wetterling, 40, and her husband, Jerry, 41, were at a party when the boys called to ask if they could make the one-mile trip to the store, and Patty wasn't going to let them do it. "But then they called back," Patty remembers, "and Jerry said they could if they wore reflective clothing, carried a flashlight and all stayed together. We thought we were protecting them from everything."

The Wetterlings never imagined that a man in a mask would be waiting for the boys in the dark of their dead-end street and order them off their bikes at gunpoint. Visiting the scene for the first time since the abduction, Patty breaks down as Jerry describes what happened. "He told them to lie face down in the gutter," says Jerry. "Then he asked them their ages. He told Trevor to run into the field or he'd shoot. Then he had Aaron turn over, and he looked at his face and told him to run. He grabbed hold of Jacob." The two boys ran the remaining half mile to the Wetterlings' house, where Rochelle Jerzak, a neighbor who was baby-sitting Jacob's sister Carmen, 8 (Jacob's older sister Amy, 13, was visiting a friend), called home. Rochelle's father, Merle, dialed 911 and then called the Wetterlings—thereby setting in motion the extraordinary effort to get Jacob back.

Two weeks ago the assorted FBI agents and local police who have frequented the Wetterling house got together and sent Patty flowers for her 40th birthday. "They keep me going," says Patty. "They say they're going to bring Jacob home. I hold onto that. I have to believe them." (much more at the link)
 
Jacob Wetterling Investigation Timeline
July 01, 2010 12:15 am
By The St. Cloud (Minn.) Times


IXN2e7P.jpg
 
Re the Monte Carlo in the afternoon.

Can anyone explain why a car looking to abduct children would go down a driveway where no children live?

Why would they return ?
 
It's a possibility. It's a horrendous thought to have, but what if Jacob was kidnapped for the sex trade? No one knows just to what depths and how "good" at their jobs these kidnappers are.

RBBM

I agree with you, however I cannot figure out how an expert abductor would know when the boys would pass that spot, and that one or more would meet his "criteria". What was special about Jacob? In what way did he meet the abductor or customers criteria? Was this a chance encounter while the abductor was out hunting, or had he followed the boys for a day or more?

I am 99% that a car was involved. I am about 75% that they boys did not know the abductor. Stranger on stranger crime is the hardest to solve.
 
RBBM

I agree with you, however I cannot figure out how an expert abductor would know when the boys would pass that spot, and that one or more would meet his "criteria". What was special about Jacob? In what way did he meet the abductor or customers criteria? Was this a chance encounter while the abductor was out hunting, or had he followed the boys for a day or more?

I am 99% that a car was involved. I am about 75% that they boys did not know the abductor. Stranger on stranger crime is the hardest to solve.

IMO the most likely way he was able to catch them coming over that hill and back that way is that the abductor is one of the cars that passed the boys on the way to the store.
 
I've noted that many times. We have no definitive direction that the multiple cars passed the boys. Either way it would give the abductor the idea that they would need to go back the way they came.

IMO the most likely way he was able to catch them coming over that hill and back that way is that the abductor is one of the cars that passed the boys on the way to the store.
 
All fair questions. Do these abductors typically serve more than one client? Obviously there was some sort of selection process or he wouldn't have let the other two boys go. Though once the "sex trade" theory is analyzed it invariably leads us away from all the other attempted abduction and abduction cases being connected.

RBBM

I agree with you, however I cannot figure out how an expert abductor would know when the boys would pass that spot, and that one or more would meet his "criteria". What was special about Jacob? In what way did he meet the abductor or customers criteria? Was this a chance encounter while the abductor was out hunting, or had he followed the boys for a day or more?

I am 99% that a car was involved. I am about 75% that they boys did not know the abductor. Stranger on stranger crime is the hardest to solve.
 
Scouting. Remember, similar occurrences happened in this neighborhood where other boys were followed. It's no different than finding a good spot for deer hunting.

human said:
Re the Monte Carlo in the afternoon.

Can anyone explain why a car looking to abduct children would go down a driveway where no children live?

Why would they return ?
 
I agree. There is something about this whole scenario that we are missing. Did the perps scope this area out during the daylight, turning around in DR's driveway? Was this planned because they knew the parents would not be home? That the kids had a school holiday the next day? Did the medical/cop person relay information to whoever? Did Kevin play a bigger part than we have thought? So many more questions than answers. I just feel there are threads here that we can not pull together to give us a better picture. Again, this area is remote, so was Jacob being stalked? And I do think the Jared incident and Jacob are connected, because of what was said, the gun and of course the area itself.
 
StinkSprings said:
Scouting. Remember, similar occurrences happened in this neighborhood where other boys were followed. It's no different than finding a good spot for deer hunting.

Do you mean that this person drove waaaaay down a long driveway looking for kids down the driveway?

Or do you mean they were driving down the road and for some weird reason went down DR's driveway instead of driving to Kiwi Court?
 
StinkSprings said:
I've noted that many times. We have no definitive direction that the multiple cars passed the boys. Either way it would give the abductor the idea that they would need to go back the way they came.

I agree with this 100% - we have no idea which direction the cars would have been "passing" the boys, could have been one way or the other, or both. It does strike me though, that for them to be relevant to the case, that they would have been on 91st Ave, or if on another street - knew who the boys were.
 
Trackergd said:
I agree with you, however I cannot figure out how an expert abductor would know when the boys would pass that spot, and that one or more would meet his "criteria". What was special about Jacob? In what way did he meet the abductor or customers criteria? Was this a chance encounter while the abductor was out hunting, or had he followed the boys for a day or more?

There is no doubt this is an organized crime - but I mean that in the criminal profiler sense...the sense that Ressler or Douglas would use....which is to contrast it to a disorganized crime. In other words, the person who committed the offense had a certain degree of planning and forethought, likely had an escape plan in place, had props (mask, gun) ready and effected an abduction that was anything but sloppy.

***This person has done this before.***
***This person is not insane and he is able to control himself effectively.***

But I don't like talk of conspiracies and I discount the possibility or even the existence of an active sex trade - if anything this implies 3 boys would be hitting the jackpot. He only takes one boy because that's all he needs and that's all he can handle. ***Importantly, he doesn't murder the other two boys when in fact most serial criminals kill less for the kill of thrilling and more because they have to eliminate a witness to their hideous deeds.***

However, there are some aspects we would normally consider disorganized - like leaving two witnesses. I'm not so sure an abduction on this road is as low risk as it seems at first, and higher risk crimes speak of a disorganized mind.

Trackergd said:
I am 99% that a car was involved. I am about 75% that they boys did not know the abductor. Stranger on stranger crime is the hardest to solve.

Given that Jacob's footprints and scent disappear a short walk off the road in what now seems a good place to stash a car, any talk that a car wasn't used is swimming upstream to the evidence.

Sasquatch321 said:
IMO the most likely way he was able to catch them coming over that hill and back that way is that the abductor is one of the cars that passed the boys on the way to the store.

That would make sense.

StinkSprings said:
I've noted that many times. We have no definitive direction that the multiple cars passed the boys. Either way it would give the abductor the idea that they would need to go back the way they came.

But we're left with who would be on this road at 10pm on a Sunday night. The best answer is someone who has an otherwise unremarkable reason for being on the road - they live there or are visiting friends/family there.

I think it is unlikely and therefore of questionable value for us to consider that a random boy-abductor randomly wandered onto this street and luckily found 3 helpless boys. Anyway, if it's that random there is no hope in us finding him. We must assume it is someone with a reason to be there besides looking for boys - if boys is what you want there are far more fruitful places to look than here.


StinkSprings said:
All fair questions. Do these abductors typically serve more than one client? Obviously there was some sort of selection process or he wouldn't have let the other two boys go. Though once the "sex trade" theory is analyzed it invariably leads us away from all the other attempted abduction and abduction cases being connected.

Your second point is most prescient - if this criminal is truly not connected to the community in any way, we may as well shut down the threads because that opens up every male sex offender in the country as a suspect. In order for amateurs like us to make this work, we have to establish a connection somewhere - to previous crimes, to known persons, to specific places, to known cars and so forth.




777
 
Here's what were left with. At least 2 vehicles past the boys on the way to the store. That has been confirmed by Aaron & Trevor. So, in the fairly short duration of a trip to Tom Thumb (what, 8-10 minutes?) two vehicles passed. Take away two potential vehicles that would have been down that way (DR's parents car, Patty & Jerry) and you're now looking at a very minute amount of potential cars that would have been down that road.

Do we have a hard number for how many houses existed beyond the Rassier driveway? Do we know where these two cars passed the boys? Could one have been Kevin? Could one have been MF?

777's post about the dogfood reference was spot on, though do we know if MF was telling the truth about being down that way that evening? z

IMO all the answers lie in wait with the print field. The sad part is if the print field was released by LE and there is/was substantial evidence of a perps print they would be tarred and feathered for not releasing that immediately after the abduction. That to me is a telling sign already. IMO, they ____ the dog early in this investigation by trying to do everything themselves, when the public could of and would have been a tremendous asset.

777 said:
But we're left with who would be on this road at 10pm on a Sunday night. The best answer is someone who has an otherwise unremarkable reason for being on the road - they live there or are visiting friends/family there.
777
 
human said:
Do you mean that this person drove waaaaay down a long driveway looking for kids down the driveway?

Or do you mean they were driving down the road and for some weird reason went down DR's driveway instead of driving to Kiwi Court?

I think StinkSprings is referring to an account chronicled on Joy's blog:

Second, here’s another tidbit I’ve mentioned once before. At the time of Jacob’s abduction, there was another boy who lived on 91st Avenue, who felt maybe he had been the intended target of the abduction that night instead of Jacob. He was 14 years old at the time, and unlike Jacob who had never been allowed to go to the store before after dark, this boy and his 12 year old friend had spent nearly every night that summer going to the Tom Thumb after dark.

Here’s his story. One night, he and his 12 year old friend were coming home from the Tom Thumb, maybe around midnight. They were on Baker Street and were taking a left onto 91st Avenue, when a car came from behind them and suddenly started coming faster and faster. As they got closer to the 12 year old’s house, they cut through the ditch, across his front yard, and into the open garage as fast as they could. The car followed them into the driveway, then backed straight across the road into the neighbor’s driveway, and flashed its bright lights on the two boys. The car stayed like that for about two minutes before the boys finally ran into the house.

A couple weeks later, the boys got brave and decided to head to the Tom Thumb once again. It was late, and this time, they noticed a car going from mailbox to mailbox… very slowly… like he was getting information from each residence.

The boys remembered the car looking similar to a Pontiac 6000, but they disagreed on the color… one said blue, the other said red. For this reason, they felt like maybe they weren’t believed when they told their story to the police just few days after Jacob was abducted.
 
There is no doubt this is an organized crime - but I mean that in the criminal profiler sense...the sense that Ressler or Douglas would use....which is to contrast it to a disorganized crime. In other words, the person who committed the offense had a certain degree of planning and forethought, likely had an escape plan in place, had props (mask, gun) ready and effected an abduction that was anything but sloppy.

***This person has done this before.***
***This person is not insane and he is able to control himself effectively.***

But I don't like talk of conspiracies and I discount the possibility or even the existence of an active sex trade - if anything this implies 3 boys would be hitting the jackpot. He only takes one boy because that's all he needs and that's all he can handle. ***Importantly, he doesn't murder the other two boys when in fact most serial criminals kill less for the kill of thrilling and more because they have to eliminate a witness to their hideous deeds.***

However, there are some aspects we would normally consider disorganized - like leaving two witnesses. I'm not so sure an abduction on this road is as low risk as it seems at first, and higher risk crimes speak of a disorganized mind.



Given that Jacob's footprints and scent disappear a short walk off the road in what now seems a good place to stash a car, any talk that a car wasn't used is swimming upstream to the evidence.



That would make sense.



But we're left with who would be on this road at 10pm on a Sunday night. The best answer is someone who has an otherwise unremarkable reason for being on the road - they live there or are visiting friends/family there.

I think it is unlikely and therefore of questionable value for us to consider that a random boy-abductor randomly wandered onto this street and luckily found 3 helpless boys. Anyway, if it's that random there is no hope in us finding him. We must assume it is someone with a reason to be there besides looking for boys - if boys is what you want there are far more fruitful places to look than here.




Your second point is most prescient - if this criminal is truly not connected to the community in any way, we may as well shut down the threads because that opens up every male sex offender in the country as a suspect. In order for amateurs like us to make this work, we have to establish a connection somewhere - to previous crimes, to known persons, to specific places, to known cars and so forth.




777

777 I disagree. This very well could be a sex trade kidnapping. Please do not totally discount this theory. To do so would be ludicrous. The perp saw a picture of Jacob on a horse at the farm where a pedophile monk's family owns the ranch and decided he wanted the "wholesome boy next door" (please see older threads for the name of the ranch and the family). The group paid thousands of dollars for people to kidnap certain boys for rich pedos who wanted this type of boy. They also kidnapped kids for prostitution in TX, CA and NY. They would force the boys into prostitution, catch them in the act and take pictures. They would blackmail several thousands of dollars from the victims. It is easier to kidnap and intimidate one boy at a time. He looked at their faces and knew Jacob's age. I have rumor that Jacob was taken for this purpose. The group was most active in the 1960s when homosexuality was illegal. They were so profitable, it continued through the 70s and early '80s. No hard proof of the group taking Jacob, but I have proof it was being done. Please read these articles:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/...reyed_on_prominent_gay_men_in_the_1960s_.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ai9YUg1K_LY9fjW3w&sig2=dRWIhTqa7EBKS4vUa3aJiQ
 
I rewatched the Current Affair episode from 1989. The show noted the boys were walking their bikes back. There's also an interview with Aaron on 91st where he points at the ditch and off towards the woods. Does anyone have a frame of reference as to what woods he was pointing at? You would think the perp would want to send them off in a direction that was opposite of where he would be leaving from.
 
777 I disagree. This very well could be a sex trade kidnapping. Please do not totally discount this theory. To do so would be ludicrous. The perp saw a picture of Jacob on a horse at the farm where a pedophile monk's family owns the ranch and decided he wanted the "wholesome boy next door" (please see older threads for the name of the ranch and the family). The group paid thousands of dollars for people to kidnap certain boys for rich pedos who wanted this type of boy. They also kidnapped kids for prostitution in TX, CA and NY. They would force the boys into prostitution, catch them in the act and take pictures. They would blackmail several thousands of dollars from the victims. It is easier to kidnap and intimidate one boy at a time. He looked at their faces and knew Jacob's age. I have rumor that Jacob was taken for this purpose. The group was most active in the 1960s when homosexuality was illegal. They were so profitable, it continued through the 70s and early '80s. No hard proof of the group taking Jacob, but I have proof it was being done. Please read these articles:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/...reyed_on_prominent_gay_men_in_the_1960s_.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ai9YUg1K_LY9fjW3w&sig2=dRWIhTqa7EBKS4vUa3aJiQ
There are 25-50 child sex abuse survivors who have come forward against St. Johns. None of them have mention that this was occurring. It is clear that other pedophiles were operating with success given the number of predators in the city.

I know that movement gained prominence with Johny Gosch's mother from Iowa, bur I don't think you can discount the fact that people from the area did not report it happening--esp given that they know feel enough courage to report that they were victims.
 
I think these boys were runaways or vulnerable boys who had no positive male figure in their lives. Not boys who had rich lives doing activities such as football, fishing, and hockey with their farhers.
 

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