MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #17

[bessie]

11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was riding bicycles with his brother and a friend in St. Joseph, Minnesota on October 22, 1989 when they were approached by an unknown man with a gun. The man let the other boys go, but grabbed Jacob and walked away with him. Jacob has never been heard from again.

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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


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#15 #16

 

[human]

From Sasquatch

DR says he saw a small dark car turn around in his driveway at about the time of the abduction. A hypnotism much later than this helped him remember seeing a girl passenger covering her face with her hands. 2 hours after seeing this he called 911 saying "they're steaing my wood". The 911 operator informs him there has been a kidnapping. He does not mention the car he saw turn around in front of his house. Without fear DR heads out into the dark with a flashlight and confronts LE. He speaks to deputy bechtold who informs DR of the kidnapping again. DR does not inform bechtold of the car he saw turn around in front of his house. Instead he says "well I'll go check it out down here and he goes from building to building on the property alone. DR then returns to his house with LE surrounding his property and goes to bed. He can't fall asleep right away and noticed LE is now down in the gravel pit, he wonders if he should go down there, but he doesn't. DR goes to bed. The next morning DR is heading out of his driveway to go to work and he lifts up the crime scene tape on the driveway, enters the crime scene, and asks for permission to drive around the tape. He does so and heads to work for the day without mentioning the vehicle he saw turn around in front of his house with a girl in the passenger seat covering her face. DR is at work for an hour or so when two investigators show up and ask him to open his trunk of his car, DR obliged. He is then questioned in the principals office for 45 minutes. Noone has seen the transcript of that questioning yet. 5 days later a warrant was issued to search his house. A second search and a seized hard drive was taken in 2004. In 2010 a third search was completed, DR is publicly named as a POI, but is under a gag order by a judge to not be told why. Items seized from the third search are awaiting verification today.

DR told investigators that someone could have tsken Jacob and buried him in their gravel pit. When DR is asked in a media interview what they may have found when they dug up the gravel pit, is just going to be animal bones and clothing. He somehow knows Jacob isn't buried there now, despite the fact that LE hasn't said what they are still testing.

 

[shergal]

From Sasquatch

DR says he saw a small dark car turn around in his driveway at about the time of the abduction. A hypnotism much later than this helped him remember seeing a girl passenger covering her face with her hands. 2 hours after seeing this he called 911 saying "they're steaing my wood". The 911 operator informs him there has been a kidnapping. He does not mention the car he saw turn around in front of his house. Without fear DR heads out into the dark with a flashlight and confronts LE. He speaks to deputy bechtold who informs DR of the kidnapping again. DR does not inform bechtold of the car he saw turn around in front of his house. Instead he says "well I'll go check it out down here and he goes from building to building on the property alone. DR then returns to his house with LE surrounding his property and goes to bed. He can't fall asleep right away and noticed LE is now down in the gravel pit, he wonders if he should go down there, but he doesn't. DR goes to bed. The next morning DR is heading out of his driveway to go to work and he lifts up the crime scene tape on the driveway, enters the crime scene, and asks for permission to drive around the tape. He does so and heads to work for the day without mentioning the vehicle he saw turn around in front of his house with a girl in the passenger seat covering her face. DR is at work for an hour or so when two investigators show up and ask him to open his trunk of his car, DR obliged. He is then questioned in the principals office for 45 minutes. Noone has seen the transcript of that questioning yet. 5 days later a warrant was issued to search his house. A second search and a seized hard drive was taken in 2004. In 2010 a third search was completed, DR is publicly named as a POI, but is under a gag order by a judge to not be told why. Items seized from the third search are awaiting verification today.

DR told investigators that someone could have tsken Jacob and buried him in their gravel pit. When DR is asked in a media interview what they may have found when they dug up the gravel pit, is just going to be animal bones and clothing. He somehow knows Jacob isn't buried there now, despite the fact that LE hasn't said what they are still testing.

This is a very good summary of why so many have questions about DR. It's difficult to understand why you wouldn't mention that you had seen a car in your driveway right away to LE.

 

[Jewelia]

This is a very good summary of why so many have questions about DR. It's difficult to understand why you wouldn't mention that you had seen a car in your driveway right away to LE.

Possibly Dan knows something about the car that was in his driveway, and he's hiding something. I feel, if he didn't take Jacob, why wouldn't he be up front about the vehicle in the driveway?

I would think he'd want to sing about that, as that would help take the focus off of him as a POI. Maybe there's more people involved in this than we thought. If he did know something about this car, and who was in this car, WHY would he hide it though?

In the interviews he appears like he's stumped on why he's a POI; almost like he knows someone else should be, but he can't say. I don't know, but something doesn't feel right, and maybe Dan knows a lot more than he's telling. Is he protecting someone, and who would that be......OR, is there a gag order on him because of what he knows? Was LE tearing up his property because they thought he did it, or because there was another POI, and they thought they buried Jacob there? I don't think so though, because DR said he was interrogated several times, and the public has not heard about any other interrogations of other possible POIs. There seems to be a lot of publicity on DR as a POI, and yet we hear nothing about other possible POIs that would seem much more likely to abduct Jacob.

With all the publicity on DR, if he had any record of sexually abusing children, I think they'd want the public to know about that too------------> unless it's connected to the Abbey of course, then that would throw a monkey wrench into things.

Does anyone here have any other ideas on this, other than DR as a POI?

 

[human]

Nope. Makes no sense thst he is a POI.

I sicerely doubt he is silent to protect anyone unless it would be a relative. And anyone else would kill him if he had info. Accidents are easy.

The not mentioning of cars is incomprehensible especially if you feel a noose tightenng around your neck.

 

[chaplain1]

I have postulated it could be a drifter. Don't have any clear ideas about it other than I think it is possible.

 

[human]

I have postulated it could be a drifter. Don't have any clear ideas about it other than I think it is possible.

Why was the drifter on this road? Have you been there to see the hills?

 

[Jewelia]

Nope. Makes no sense thst he is a POI.

I sicerely doubt he is silent to protect anyone unless it would be a relative. And anyone else would kill him if he had info. Accidents are easy.

The not mentioning of cars is incomprehensible especially if you feel a noose tightenng around your neck.

In the beginning, he may not have thought the cars were connected. I think it would take anyone a while to wrap their head around the gravity of a child being abducted on their property. I really think he's his own worst enemy.

Chaplain1, it could be a drifter----->Maybe from Wisconsin. Maybe the drifter could have been from Wisconsin, and connected with other pedophiles in Minnesota, and hung around the area from time to time, possibly stalking Jacob. Just a thought.

 

[StinkSprings]

I thought the audio recordings were missing from DR's call in to 911? Are those direct quotes below from the 911 tapes? Do you have access or information on them?

From Sasquatch

DR says he saw a small dark car turn around in his driveway at about the time of the abduction. A hypnotism much later than this helped him remember seeing a girl passenger covering her face with her hands. 2 hours after seeing this he called 911 saying "they're steaing my wood". The 911 operator informs him there has been a kidnapping. He does not mention the car he saw turn around in front of his house. Without fear DR heads out into the dark with a flashlight and confronts LE. He speaks to deputy bechtold who informs DR of the kidnapping again. DR does not inform bechtold of the car he saw turn around in front of his house. Instead he says "well I'll go check it out down here and he goes from building to building on the property alone. DR then returns to his house with LE surrounding his property and goes to bed. He can't fall asleep right away and noticed LE is now down in the gravel pit, he wonders if he should go down there, but he doesn't. DR goes to bed. The next morning DR is heading out of his driveway to go to work and he lifts up the crime scene tape on the driveway, enters the crime scene, and asks for permission to drive around the tape. He does so and heads to work for the day without mentioning the vehicle he saw turn around in front of his house with a girl in the passenger seat covering her face. DR is at work for an hour or so when two investigators show up and ask him to open his trunk of his car, DR obliged. He is then questioned in the principals office for 45 minutes. Noone has seen the transcript of that questioning yet. 5 days later a warrant was issued to search his house. A second search and a seized hard drive was taken in 2004. In 2010 a third search was completed, DR is publicly named as a POI, but is under a gag order by a judge to not be told why. Items seized from the third search are awaiting verification today.

DR told investigators that someone could have tsken Jacob and buried him in their gravel pit. When DR is asked in a media interview what they may have found when they dug up the gravel pit, is just going to be animal bones and clothing. He somehow knows Jacob isn't buried there now, despite the fact that LE hasn't said what they are still testing.

 

[StinkSprings]

Thanks for the tips Shergal! Now that this info is on an old thread I'll paste it below. I think the key to solving this case is in finding who was in those cars that passed the kids that evening. With at least two vehicles passing the boys on the way to the Tom Thumb it's certainly possible that the perp was one of them.


Minneapolis Star Tribune
October 24, 1989
St. Joseph boy, 11, kidnapped at gunpoint
Pat Doyle, Staff Writer
[Stearns County Sheriff Charlie] Grafft said an account of the abduction provided by Jacob’s brother, Trevor, 10, is credible and authorities assume the boy has been kidnapped. Trevor said that he, Jacob, and Aaron Larson, 11, were returning on bicycles from a convenience store a mile from home where they had rented a videotaped movie. The area is about 5 miles west of St. Cloud.
They were about halfway home when a man wearing dark clothing, black boots and carrying a pistol walked out of a long gravel driveway leading to a farm.
“He had a mask; it looked like pantyhose, on his head,” Trevor said. “He told us to get off our bikes or he’d shoot. We did what he said. We laid in a ditch and he asked our ages.”
After the boys told their ages, “He looked at Aaron’s face and he told me to run to the woods as fast as I could,” Trevor said.
Said Aaron, “He told me to run, too, or else he’d shoot.”
Just before they began running, “We saw him grab him (Jacob) by the arm,” Trevor said. Several minutes later, he said, they looked around, but Jacob and the masked man were gone.
Trevor said several cars passed the trio on their way to the store but no vehicles passed them as they rode their bicycles back toward home. He said they heard rustling in the weeds along the road at one point but thought nothing unusual. Trevor and Aaron said they didn’t hear or see a vehicle, but a person who lives nearby told police he heard tires squealing at about 9 p.m.
“I have a very sick feeling there was a car and he was taken away,” Jerry Wetterling said.

 

[human]

In the beginning, he may not have thought the cars were connected. I think it would take anyone a while to wrap their head around the gravity of a child being abducted on their property. I really think he's his own worst enemy.

Chaplain1, it could be a drifter----->Maybe from Wisconsin. Maybe the drifter could have been from Wisconsin, and connected with other pedophiles in Minnesota, and hung around the area from time to time, possibly stalking Jacob. Just a thought.

He was soooooo worried about his wood that he called LE. But a missing child? No problem!

 

[Jewelia]

Thanks for the tips Shergal! Now that this info is on an old thread I'll paste it below. I think the key to solving this case is in finding who was in those cars that passed the kids that evening. With at least two vehicles passing the boys on the way to the Tom Thumb it's certainly possible that the perp was one of them.




Minneapolis Star Tribune
October 24, 1989
St. Joseph boy, 11, kidnapped at gunpoint
Pat Doyle, Staff Writer
[Stearns County Sheriff Charlie] Grafft said an account of the abduction provided by Jacob’s brother, Trevor, 10, is credible and authorities assume the boy has been kidnapped. Trevor said that he, Jacob, and Aaron Larson, 11, were returning on bicycles from a convenience store a mile from home where they had rented a videotaped movie. The area is about 5 miles west of St. Cloud.
They were about halfway home when a man wearing dark clothing, black boots and carrying a pistol walked out of a long gravel driveway leading to a farm.
“He had a mask; it looked like pantyhose, on his head,” Trevor said. “He told us to get off our bikes or he’d shoot. We did what he said. We laid in a ditch and he asked our ages.”
After the boys told their ages, “He looked at Aaron’s face and he told me to run to the woods as fast as I could,” Trevor said.
Said Aaron, “He told me to run, too, or else he’d shoot.”
Just before they began running, “We saw him grab him (Jacob) by the arm,” Trevor said. Several minutes later, he said, they looked around, but Jacob and the masked man were gone.
Trevor said several cars passed the trio on their way to the store but no vehicles passed them as they rode their bicycles back toward home. He said they heard rustling in the weeds along the road at one point but thought nothing unusual. Trevor and Aaron said they didn’t hear or see a vehicle, but a person who lives nearby told police he heard tires squealing at about 9 p.m.
“I have a very sick feeling there was a car and he was taken away,” Jerry Wetterling said.

Sounds right on target. I think there was more than one person involved in Jacob's abduction. 2 hiding in the brush that looked out for Jacob and the boys coming back. 1 who kidnapped Jacob. Then the 1 that hired them to do it. These are my thoughts on his kidnapping, based on what I've put together.

One the alleged cars was a Maroon car. There's a tire print that is next to Jacob's foot print.

 

[human]

Why would someone be hired to take Jacob?

And why would someone think 9 at night on a Sunday would be a great time to do it?

Were you able to follow along on Google to see what it is like by their house and see that it would be basically impossible to skulk around their house?

It is no secret what Diane thinks happened in case she has told you it is bombshell info

 

[StinkSprings]

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.

Sounds right on target. I think there was more than one person involved in Jacob's abduction. 2 hiding in the brush that looked out for Jacob and the boys coming back. 1 who kidnapped Jacob. Then the 1 that hired them to do it. These are my thoughts on his kidnapping, based on what I've put together.

One the alleged cars was a Maroon car. There's a tire print that is next to Jacob's foot print.

 

[human]

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.

Why would people like that do something so risky? There are tons of kids whose parents are uninvolved in their lives and would not even notice the kid is missing for awhile.

 

[Jewelia]

Jacob's foot print.....which I know has been seen several times on here. But I think a car was involved, and this alleged foot print of Jacob's is by a tire track.

 

[StinkSprings]

Do we know if the prints are traveling from left to right or right to left? Treadwear would dictate which way the vehicle was pointing.

View attachment 77244 Jacob's foot print.....which I know has been seen several times on here. But I think a car was involved, and this alleged foot print of Jacob's is by a tire track.

 

[Jewelia]

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.

I agree.....It's very possible, and the boys were alone on a dark road. This was the first time Jacob was allowed out at night to go to the store. Anyone could have been stalking him, and it could have been for a fairly long period of time. Child trafficking has been around a long time, and no community is immune to it. Human, you said there's many, many pedophiles in the area, and many pedophiles are linked to child trafficking rings. The pedophiles are their customers.

It's just something to consider. Many abducted children are never found, and sometimes LE still calls them "runaways", rather than MISSING CHILDREN. Unless these things are considered, no meaningful investigation can be considered.

It's already been alleged that Jacob's abduction was sexually motivated. There were other abduction attempts in the area, and there were sexual assaults on boys in the same age range.....which tells me there's a preferential child trafficker....or serial pedophile potentially involved.

 

[human]

Exactly how could someone stalk Jacob? He did tons of things with his parents.

Have you looked at where their house is? How could anyone stalk there?

 

[Jewelia]

Exactly how could someone stalk Jacob? He did tons of things with his parents.

Have you looked at where their house is? How could anyone stalk there?

There's many ways a child can be stalked, even if the parents are highly involved in their children's lives. Child traffickers have snatched kids in an instant. If someone was watching Jacob from afar, and possibly knew his parents were gone that night, it was the perfect opportunity. He was abducted. He was taken, because the opportunity arose.