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

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Richard said:
The abduction was certainly a planned crime, to an extent. That is, the abductor had probably targeted the boys at some point and lay in wait for them, along their intended path.

Jacob, his brother Treavor, and a friend - Aaron Larson - were together that day and enroute from a convenience store (where they had gotten a video) to the Wetterling home. They were stopped by the armed abductor, who ordered them to lie face down on the ground. He took his time studying the boys before making his clear choice. He grabbed Jacob by the back of his clothing and sent the other two boys running for home.

If he had been sent specifically for Jacob to begin with, he likely would have waited to get him alone, or would have taken him without a lot of delay and study of all three.

It would seem that he wanted to abduct one boy and that he wanted to have a choice from the three that he saw. This occurred on 22 October 1989. Police at the time thought that it might have been related to a previous sexual assult which occurred in Cold Spring, MN in January 1989.
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You know.. I was watching a bio on BTK/Dennis Rader and he admitted he would watch the victims for a long time before attacking them. He stalked them.. planned, monitored their schedules and movements. I bet the person who took Jacob did this also. It would not be hard to see when his parents left home (as they did that night) since his home was right on a corner of a main street in St. Joe. There was a bar down the road, little places the person could have watched from and then he could have watched the direction Jacob and his friends took with their bikes as they left. Anyway, I agree-I think it was planned out as you said.
 
From what I know the Wetterlings lived in a fairly secluded area, I posted the link of the exact spot Jacob was taken (the abductor stepped out from the long driveway on the right) which is about a quarter mile up the road from their home.http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30350%2091st%20ave%20st.%20joseph%2C%20mn&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3WZPB_enUS315US315&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
It's now known that the abductor did not have a car and got away with Jacob on foot, but how far? did he have a car parked somewhere else or did this guy see the boys pass by him or his house when they were going to the tom thumb store and he ran toward the direction he saw them come from and lay in waiting for their return and he simply walked Jacob back to his house? (just one of my theories) and unfortunately it was really dry in the area so the dogs were unable to follow Jacobs scent for too long.

I'm not familiar with the St. Joseph area so I don't know what route the boys took past 91st Ave and I have no clue where the tom thumb store was located (it would interest me to know where it was) but I believe the abductor saw the boys turning or coming along that long stretch of 91st Ave on their way to the store.
 
Lotus said:
From what I know the Wetterlings lived in a fairly secluded area, I posted the link of the exact spot Jacob was taken (the abductor stepped out from the long driveway on the right) which is about a quarter mile up the road from their home.http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30350%2091st%20ave%20st.%20joseph%2C%20mn&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3WZPB_enUS315US315&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
It's now known that the abductor did not have a car and got away with Jacob on foot, but how far? did he have a car parked somewhere else or did this guy see the boys pass by him or his house when they were going to the tom thumb store and he ran toward the direction he saw them come from and lay in waiting for their return and he simply walked Jacob back to his house? (just one of my theories) and unfortunately it was really dry in the area so the dogs were unable to follow Jacobs scent for too long.

I'm not familiar with the St. Joseph area so I don't know what route the boys took past 91st Ave and I have no clue where the tom thumb store was located (it would interest me to know where it was) but I believe the abductor saw the boys turning or coming along that long stretch of 91st Ave on their way to the store.
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The Wetterlings lived (and still live, to my knowledge) on Kiwi Ct. I too would be interested in knowing where the store was. I remember hearing it was right near the highway, but more than that I don't know.
One of the fascinating and disturbing aspects of this case is how the abductor escaped from the area...or if he did at all. It's a very odd place to abduct a child and disappear into thin air. Nothing but fields around, with the odd house, and few escape routes from the area. Perhaps he was a neighbour (that uncooperative older man I have heard mentioned?) who had prepared a hidden dungeon in his house waiting for years for just the right time to put it to use. Terrifying thought.
Just a thought as to an escape route, if we go with the premise it wasn't an immediate neighbour: West through the field across from the long driveway. North through some brush near the western edge of that small wooded area. He could have had a vehicle parked at the south end of 12th Ave SE, where it dead-ends as what looks like a dirt road, south of Eagle Ridge Rd.
 
I have thought of a potential escape route also, apparently the two other boys when they looked back saw the abductor take Jacob into some nearby woods as they were running across the field toward kiwi ct but it has never been made clear which direction the abductor pulled him towards... did he take Jacob north or did he take him back toward the driveway he popped out from? And It looks as if new houses have been built back around Eagle Ridge Rd so I have no clue what everything would have looked like in 1989. It would be helpful if someone from the area could post the exact location of where the tom thumb was.
 
Trino said:
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_13469982

The Wetterlings will mark 20 years since Jacob's abduction by thanking those who helped on the case.

Several current posters don't realize that Jacob's abduction began a national focus on abducted children.
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If you go to the comments section of the above-quoted website, a number of people are attacking the Wetterlings, which I find pretty outrageous. I encourage Websleuthsers to read through some of the stuff there and add their own comments (no login necessary).
 
They're attacking because of their politics, it's sad some of the people posting over there have to focus on that instead of whats important: A missing child.

Anyway...
I still remember seeing Jacobs picture all over the place when he went missing and not really knowing the true motives behind kidnappings yet (I was only four and I thought people kidnapped children because they couldn't have their own) and even though 20 years has gone by it doesn't mean there will never be an answer because in all likelihood the guy who did this is still alive or there is someone out there who knows the truth and has yet to come forward. I really hope there will be closure some day soon.
 
My older son just turned 13 about when Jacob, age 11, disappeared. It really altered my outlook on keeping my son closer to home and shuttling him places when he previously rode his bike. St. Joseph was such a low-key community for a child abduction - so much for thoughts that moving to suburbia kept everyone safer. As for PW's politican aspirations, they should be over.

I don't know how I would honor a child twenty years after an abduction, but I don't believe criticism has a place with the remembrance. Many don't realize Patty Wetterling was a forerunner in advocating nationally for missing children and an advocate in getting missing child laws passed. IMO people should just allow her and her family do what's right for them w/o comment.

I really wish there were more emphasis upon Jacob's case; some people have never heard of Jacob. Twenty years will have passed since his abduction from a bicycle on a rural road. Those who don't care for the Wetterling's remembrance might light a candle, turn on a porch light, or whatever on Oct 22 to remember this child and his family.
 
Wetterling to mark 20th anniversary of abduction

Later this month it will be 20 years since 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped by a stranger just a half-mile from his home in St. Joseph.

The Wetterling family will mark the day by hosting a "Celebration of Children" concert at the Benedicta Arts Center at the College of St. Benedict on Oct. 17.

Patty Wetterling says the concert will be an uplifting day, featuring children's musician Red Grammer. She says it's also a chance to thank everyone who has supported the family over the past 20 years.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_13469721?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com#
 
Thanks for the article, Lotus. A bit of insight into the family. As to the abduction, I found this part informative:
article said:
The police arrived six minutes later and went to the place where the boys had seen the man. Jacob’s footprints were on the driveway by where the man had been standing. But then they ended and his toe sort of dug into the gravel. There appeared to be some resistance at that point. There were tire tracks on the driveway.
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Looks like the perp may have been parked in the long driveway on the right, waiting, then dragged Jacob into the car when the boys came along, and then took off with the frightened child. Simple as that. Looking at a satellite image of the driveway, he would have been out of sight of the house/farm to which the driveway belonged, so he could have parked there for a while without being bothered.
Noname-7.jpg
 
At least the article gave an answer to the question of what direction he took him, but the police said there was no car and the two other boys said they didn't hear a car as they ran away. Maybe the abductor had it parked along the highway and dragged Jacob all the way there, OR he saw them pass by his house on their way to the tom thumb and took Jacob along behind the tree line and simply walked him to the back door of his house (assuming the perp lives/lived around there). Then there is the theory that Jacob was stalked prior to this at the hockey rink (like the boy in nearby Cold Spring) and the abductor saw them enter the tom thumb and recognized Jacob and knew what direction they would be going because he knew where Jacob lived, and if that is so then it's my guess that he got Jacobs last name from the back of his jersey or something and simply opened a phone book and got their home address... If this is the scenario then the abductor simply "got lucky" because there is no way he could have known that they would have been going to the tom thumb that night, unless he was stalking around their house that night... it's all so confusing.

I would love to read the rest of that article though.
 
Lotus said:
At least the article gave an answer to the question of what direction he took him, but the police said there was no car and the two other boys said they didn't hear a car as they ran away.
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That's what I have always heard, too, which is why I don't understand why the article would mention tire tracks on the driveway as if they belonged to the abductor's car.
 
CrimeSolver said:
That's what I have always heard, too, which is why I don't understand why the article would mention tire tracks on the driveway as if they belonged to the abductor's car.
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Here's the tire track info:

A 21 year old male heard the call on his scanner and went to the scene, actually arriving before the police. When the police got there, he spoke with them, turned around and left. They never took his name. Now, years later, he has come forward as the owner of the tire tracks. This explains why the boys did not see a vehicle. This man has been investigated; police are satisfied his story is true.

Sorry, but I don't have a reference for this, but I live in MN and know this info was published within the last couple of years.

BUT, the abductor most likely had access to a car SOMEWHERE. It very well could have been parked across the field on another street.
 
Aha, thanks for that, Trino. The article deceptively tried to link the tire tracks to the abductor. The way it's described in the excerpt I quoted above, I can picture Jacob being taken to the car, then struggling as he is shoved into it, hence the dug-in toe mark in the dirt. But, pursuant to your info, we are 99% certain the abductor had no car in the immediate vicinity.
 
If the abductor did have a car parked away somewhere it could have been the same one used in the Cold Spring abduction [A dark blue 4-door similar to a chevrolet celebrity]​

chevrolet-celebrity-17.jpg





As to the video of Jacob, I doubt the Milwaukee police will ever release anymore info at this point. Perhaps the video of Jacob was aired by the family on some TV show after the abduction and he recorded it on a VCR :confused:​
 
I remember way back in Oct. of '89 seeing video of Jacob on "Inside Edition" in the days following his abduction. One was a relatively commonly shown, silent clip of him giving some sort of school presentation a few weeks or so prior to his disappearance. The other was a video from Christmas of '88 that showed him and his brother roughhousing.
 
Lotus said:
If the abductor did have a car parked away somewhere it could have been the same one used in the Cold Spring abduction [A dark blue 4-door similar to a chevrolet celebrity]​

chevrolet-celebrity-17.jpg


As to the video of Jacob, I doubt the Milwaukee police will ever release anymore info at this point. Perhaps the video of Jacob was aired by the family on some TV show after the abduction and he recorded it on a VCR :confused:​
Click to expand...

As to a recalling a car, it's been 20 years. Do we even remember what past cars our neighbors owned? Then, too, Jacob could have been abducted from someone out of state.
IMO, unfortunately, unless someone comes forth or the WI man is implicated, most likely Jacob's case will remain unsolved.

I just don't know how a family goes on when something like this happens. Unless any one of us has walked in their shoes, to criticize them is ridiculous.
 
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