MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #1

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mushyb

mushyb

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I notice that this was being discussed on the other thread and thought i'd start a thread for Jacob. It has always touched me as well. i was a just a couple of years older then Jacob when i was on a vacation through minnesota with my family. his picture was everywhere we went. it still is up in lots of places. everything about his abduction is just so scary. i just wish his family could get some answers.

Jacob Wetterling
http://www.courttv.com/news/hiddentraces/wetterling/wetterling_page1.html

Jacob Wetterling Foundation
http://www.jwf.org/

my thoughts are that he was abducted by a sexual predator. minnesota has a lot of undeveolped forest and unfourtunatley IMO he is out there somewhere.

Jacob Wetterling SAR and Map Thread - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
MN MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, 22 Oct 1989 ***MEDIA THREAD***NO DISCUSSION*** - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


MN MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, 22 Oct 1989 ***CASE FACTS***NO DISCUSSION*** - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
 
It is so hard to believe that he's been gone for 12 years. I remember this case because I used to order from Fingerhut a lot. They are based in St. Cloud and they stuffed my orders with his missing persons flyers and asked for them to be distributed. (Everyone ordering from Fingerhut got the flyers, which was the most awesome idea, I just wish it had brought him home).

Would you like to invite his mother here to post?
 
It always seemed to me that the abductor may have known Jacob. How could he have known they would come by that isolated area, when they normally did not?? Was he in the store when they got the movie, and heard them say where they were headed?? I'm sure that was checked out, however.
I read on another board (wish I could remember where) that the catholic church would send priests who had molested children to someplace called st. johns abbey. The poster stated this wasn't far from the area where Jacob lived. S/he stated that s/he believed the abductor was someone at the abbey.
It could also be connected with a pedophile ring; hence the kidnapper asking the age of the boys, and choosing Jacob. These children can be sent anywhere, even overseas; from what I've read.
My heart goes out to the parents. After all the leads, and all these years; still nothing.
I think it would be wonderful if Patty would join us; she would have a lot of support on WS.
 
This is one case that has always stuck with me. I wish the family could have some closure. It would be wonderful to invite his mother to post here. I agree with Peekaboo. She would have a lot of support here at WS.
 
MrsMush99 said:
This is one case that has always stuck with me. I wish the family could have some closure. It would be wonderful to invite his mother to post here. I agree with Peekaboo. She would have a lot of support here at WS.
Click to expand...
Me too. Oh how I wish there was something, anything, in the form of information on what happpened to him.
 
I don't know how the Wetterlings cope with Jacob's disappearance. I'm sure there must not be a day that goes by without both his mother and father thinking of him. Jacob's been gone for 12 years, no evidence, no movement on the case. How can you resign yourself to a story without an ending?

You're possibly correct in saying that the forests of northern MN may harbor secrets. Many years ago in Akron, OH two teens were taken from a front porch. The boy had testified against a dealer, so the police knew who to suspect. Still, there was no evidence, no linking. Seven years later their bodies were found in a national forest. There has never been an arrest.
 
...which gives me the chills 'cause my kids play hockey... is that the perp. was an offender who hung out regularly at the hockey rink....or....that this was somehow hockey related as in some type of rivalry gone amok....Now before you jump to conclusions and say this is crazy....those of you who played hockey or whose kids play hockey will totally understand this....there are a few absolutely psychotic hockey parents out there...

Some coaches in my kids' league are lobbying to take names off of jerseys, jackets, hats, etc. because they feel it could open kids up to being vulnerable....this is so sad....that we even have to think like this...
 
cappuccina said:
...which gives me the chills 'cause my kids play hockey... is that the perp. was an offender who hung out regularly at the hockey rink....or....that this was somehow hockey related as in some type of rivalry gone amok....Now before you jump to conclusions and say this is crazy....those of you who played hockey or whose kids play hockey will totally understand this....there are a few absolutely psychotic hockey parents out there...

Some coaches in my kids' league are lobbying to take names off of jerseys, jackets, hats, etc. because they feel it could open kids up to being vulnerable....this is so sad....that we even have to think like this...
Click to expand...
Where I live it has become really popular to have a bumper sticker ON your vehicle with your kids activity logo, like a soccor ball, cheerleader, hockey sticks, with their first name on it. I just don't know about that.
 
Putting a child's name on anything nowadays is very dangerous. It gives a predator a way to act like they know the family.

Each family should have a password, so that a child knows if a person is really a messenger for the family, in the case of an emergency.

My girlfriend in Texas had her name on her keychain my last trip home, and when I explained to her how dangerous it was, she took it off, thank God!

All of us can do things to protect ourselves.
Blessings to all, Lanie
 
...an activity sticker in general is OK....I have generic soccer and hockey ones on my car...

What I no longer do is to put my child's name, or anything with their specific team on my car...

The password thing is excellent...we have picked really obscure words/references and words/phrases in other languages (not easily guessed)...
 
Re: individual safety for kids and others

Before the new site there were a couple of threads about personal alarms. I purchased two. The alarm would have probably helped Dru Sjodin (shopping mall), but I don't know if it would help all cases, probably not JW, since there were two other boys present (rather isolated road). There has to be someone, preferably an adult, around to hear you. I mt. bike, inline skate and the alarm could probably go off without anyone being aware. Still, a personal alarm is probably a good buy for kids and adults.
 
I wrote to Patty Wetterling, inviting her here, and also to Missing Persons Day. I heard back from the Manager of Community Outreach and Education
for the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, today. She has forwarded my letter to Patty. If I hear anything, I will post it.
Blessings to all, Lanie
 
Cappuccina, although there are some crazies in hockey - my sons played in MN - JW's disappearance probably wasn't sports related.

I had a post erased, think I know why, so I'll be more gentle. One FBI agent investigating the case lived in our neighborhood. He never talked to me, but his wife did. One common theory (12 years ago) was that J was abducted out of MN, possibly out of the US. St. Cloud is located near an interstate, the Canadian border is easy to reach. At that time crossing the border was a snap. Theories may have changed/been upgraded since then.

The most interesting thing is that the abductor uttered one sentence, asking which boy was the oldest. Would a pedophile do this?
 
....unfortunately, people who shouldn't be at youth sports games can also be there for the wrong reasons...

Last year, my husband and two other soccer dads confronted a man who was following a particular high school soccer girl around and looking at her with binocs. He had no reason to be at the soccer game...They hald him until the police came...

The man who abducted Jacob could have been first stalking him from the rink...

I think he asked the question he did because he was trying to get Jacob, and was confused as to which one he was..
 
I have not heard of possible stalking of Jacob before your post, certainly not from the FBI wife. Of course, anything is possible. I don't recall talk of suspicious person around rinks or any place that Jacob went. I'm sure that was thoroughly checked. Was Jacob abducted in early fall?

I have heard of pedophiles who frequent sporting events, one around our area who stalked a girl at a swim meet, including taking pictures. It was her parents, present at meets, who first wondered about the weirdo and who turned him in to police.
 
When I first saw this case on Dateline or 20/20 (sorry, I can't remember which one, it's been a couple of years) the family did mention the possibility that there could have been a pedophile stalker that had been scoping out Jacob at his hockey games. I'm not sure how strongly they pursued that theory but I remember it being discussed.

It's also mentioned in the Court TV, Hidden Traces section:

Another theory is that the abductor stalked Jacob. The secluded crime scene suggests that the abductor did not just stumble upon the scene. And the reports of a suspicious man at the Tom Thumb store appear to back that up.

Later, Jerry Wetterling recalled a moment from earlier on the day of the abduction that could also lend support to the stalker theory.

That afternoon, Jerry and his two sons were skating at a hockey tryout. There were about 20 spectators. Suddenly, Jacob slipped out of sight.

“It was very strange but very real,” Jerry remembered. “I had this sense of danger for Jacob. I can almost point to the spot on the ice where it happened to this day.”

After relocating his son, Jerry’s feeling subsided. He thought nothing of it until a few days after the abduction.

“It prompted me to wonder if possibly the abductor had been in the ice arena at that time, in a sense looking at Jacob or stalking him,” Jerry said.
Click to expand...

Hidden Traces - Jacob Wetterling - page 3
 
Is there any chance that Jacob's case will be revisited? Is the FBI willing to reinterview people? Maybe if the case becomes active again, someone with knowledge of the case will come forward.
 
Last night on our local news, MN FOX channel 9 at 9:00, they led in with "new evidence in the JW kidnapping". I have not checked the channel 9 web site, but they may have the story on there. It had to do with tire tracks and the mystery of the tire tracks being solved, as well as a local man that was not followed up on which may have been botched by the police. They also had the girl, then a college student working at the Tom Thumb, and now an adult, who was the last person to see Jacob before the abduction. If I followed the segment correct, a then 21 year old male heard the call on his scanner and sped to the scene, only to be the first to arrive. When the police got there, he spoke briefly with them, turned around and left. They never took his name. He has now come forward as the owner of the tire tracks, being too afraird at the time, so there may not have been a vehicle involved. Also, there was a man who's property abuts where JW was taken from. He was home, alone at the time. Police looked in his car that had boxes in it at the time, but never searched his house. I got the impression they have been looking at this man since last October as a possible suspect.

I too live in Minnesota, and was involved with a fundraiser for JW at the time. It was very intense. I still have the buttons they distributed with his picture on it. Everyone just wanted to help, it could have been our son, our friend, our nephew, our neighbor. My thought after the story last night was what does this loner man's house hold? Lil
 
They did interview both those men on the news. The neighbor "suspect" was getting out of his car when the reporter approched him. They said the reporter talked to him for 2 hours but they did not recount much for the program. They also had one of those blurry boxes over his face so not to identify him. Also, hearing and seeing "Kevin" you could hear his sincerity about what he was thinking when he was only 21. He didn't think he had seen anything. What I find interesting is that the person that gave the account of a car was the neighbor "suspect". Very suspicious! Where was he that he could see and here the car?
 
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