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

[Cubby]

October 2003: The driver of a long-sought vehicle comes forward. Authorities rule him out as a suspect in the abduction. The theory of the case changes, leading investigators to focus on local suspects who could’ve been on foot when snatching Jacob.

from the following link - Investigative timeline on the far right of the page.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/2010...Search-at-farm-near-Wetterling-abduction-site

From this date forward it seems the investigation was leaning back towards a local on without a vehicle. Perhaps something they have been working on for a few years but couldn't tie lose ends to obtain a search warrant finally occured.

Maybe after Jaycee was found alive it caused the burden someone was carrying to be heavier... and may they went to LE.

Speculation of course, but I sure hope this leads to the answers the Wetterlings are so long overdue.

 

[Dum-Dum Sucker]

After reading the Saint Cloud article, it sounded like some things (scaffolding & stuff) were being picked up for the church Parish festival and that Mr. & Mrs. Rassier stored them there. Not clear if the barrels are for that or going somewhere for inspection??? Who knows? :-/
The deal is that their son lives there, he was in his 30s when this happened. He was a school teacher (band) and was home the night the abduction occurred but didn't even go out to find out what was going on when the cops showed up (which looks not-so-good, right?)

My question is: would they not have searched the farm area a long time ago, or did they just get *more* information that made it more plausible to execute a search?

The inability to comment is to protect the integrity of whatever the source of information is. There's no magic to that, it just makes us all curious. I can't imagine being the W's, how stressful the ups and downs are.

Just jumping in. Back then, they had tracked Jacob's footprints to a fresh tire mark, so they were going on the assumption that Jacob had been driven away. Then 5 years ago or so the abduction-by-vehicle theory was discounted, which makes this search all the more credible.

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=856446

The article linked within this article is from 5 years ago.

I'll never forget first hearing of Jacob's abduction on local radio, driving back home to Minneapolis from what turned out to be about 50 miles from the location of his abduction. That child and his family and his foundation have been in my prayers - and my checkbook - ever since.

 

[SuziQ]

At the below link is an overhead shot of the farm with all the LE vehicles. Good article too.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_15411710?source=most_emailed

 

[Cubby]

a little more info from the end of this this article:

http://www.sctimes.com/article/2010...ses-on-farm-near-site-of-Wetterling-abduction

Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall also cited the court order as the reason she couldn’t comment on the search. The moment anything related to the search becomes public, she said, the information will be released.
Two flatbed trailers left the property Wednesday evening with items for the St. Joseph Parish Festival that were stored on the farm, including metal framing for tents and large plastic barrels, also for the festival.
Joe Prom, of Joe’s Auto Wrecking, was one of the people who went onto the property to get the items.
He said a group of officers were leaving as he arrived and that he didn’t notice anything out of order.
Also seen leaving the property was a minivan with Louisiana license plates that had a sticker on the back that read “Louisiana K9 Search and Rescue.” There were two animal crates in the back.

 

[mushyb]

Prayers to Patty and family, please lord bring Jacob home. i was 13 and travelling through minnesota when he was abducted and i remember seeing his missing poster everywhere we went, i always think of this and i would love for jacob to be found!

http://wcco.com/crime/wetterling.site.abduction.2.1781571.html

 

[MCDRAW]

I am praying that Jacob is found and that his family finally get the answers that they need. I am also praying that the person that took Jacob is arrested and convicted. He has walked the streets for over 20 years, there is no telling who all he has hurt.

 

[shergal]

Some more links on the search for Jacob. On our local news tonight they showed trucks hauling scaffolding for the St. Joe 4th of July from the Rassier farm and large plastic drums. They have deputies guarding the driveway entrance all night so no one can get in there. I really hope they find something to give this poor family closure.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/2010...Search-at-farm-near-Wetterling-abduction-site

http://www.hovied.com/site-news/2010/jacob-wetterlings-case-opened-again-30065500.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/inv...acob-wetterling-disappeared/story?id=11058667

 

[WhyaDuck?]

Well, it certainly looks like the activities at the farm are very likely related to Jacob's case (as opposed to some other investigation).

BBM:

The FBI is “supporting search warrant operations in that area,” said E.K. Wilson, FBI spokesman. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has “some people on the ground” in St. Joseph today, working in support of the sheriff and the FBI, “said Bob Lowery, executive director of missing children division. He said that the center was a nation “and of St. Joseph’s regularly over the past many years.”

http://yoblips.com/26-jacob-wetterling-was-abductedjacob-wetterlings-case-reopen-1711.html

 

[Cubby]

What is lot size of the property being searched? Anyone know?

I wonder if this search differs from others by searching inside the property versus the land. It seems logical LE has already searched the land area of the farm.
Where the interiors of any of buildings been searched previously?

What do we know about previous searches in this area?

 

[WhyaDuck?]

Searches of the property will re-start at daybreak, it seems.

http://www.103rockfm.com/

 

[WhyaDuck?]

What is lot size of the property being searched? Anyone know?

I wonder if this search differs from others by searching inside the property versus the land. It seems logical LE has already searched the land area of the farm.
Where the interiors of any of buildings been searched previously?

What do we know about previous searches in this area?

AFAIK, Cubby, a "block" is a unit itself, and I am trying to find out what the size here is, or the average "block" size in this county is.

As to land search, I think they are also doing that today, as they had choppers and ground crews out there. I don't know what was searched originally, but the articles all call it the biggest missing persons case of the time, so I would assume they searched this property since, famously, Jacob's very last footprints were found at the head of this driveway.

 

[WhyaDuck?]

I'd like to know what the tip was that lead to the search today.

According to this:

Authorities involved in the investigation said the search came after two young agents working the case took a fresh look at the file.

There were no new tips that sparked the search, "no nothing, just young cops looking at the file and they said 'Maybe we should go take a look,' " said an official familiar with developments.

Asked if the agents were merely working off a hunch, the official said, "Yeah."

http://www.startribune.com/local/97...qyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU1yDEmP:QMDCinchO7DU

 

[Cubby]

Searches of the property will re-start at daybreak, it seems.

http://www.103rockfm.com/

WhyaDuck - the above link is about the tiger woods divorce settlement.

 

[laini]

Reading the above links, it sounds like this family may innocent and just happen to live where Jacob was kidnapped. New cops checking out old leads maybe. I hope Jacob is found, but I also hope this family is cleared, too.

 

[WhyaDuck?]

WhyaDuck - the above link is about the tiger woods divorce settlement.

No, it's to all their top news stories from today - scroll down, and this case is under that. I don't know if you can link to one of them specifically, but I will check later.

Not quite that stupid yet, I swear.


ETA: I managed to isolate out that specific post - my comp was slooooow before, so that's likely why I couldn't:

http://www.103rockfm.com/?p=751

However, above link also works, if you scroll down a couple inches.

 

[WhyaDuck?]

Reading the above links, it sounds like this family may innocent and just happen to live where Jacob was kidnapped. New cops checking out old leads maybe. I hope Jacob is found, but I also hope this family is cleared, too.

There is much interest in the son of this family, but I don't know enough to say one way or another.

But, since the parents were in Europe at the time, there is no reason, I guess, why some stranger couldn't have used their property for his crimes.

 

[Cubby]

AFAIK, Cubby, a "block" is a unit itself, and I am trying to find out what the size here is, or the average "block" size in this county is.

As to land search, I think they are also doing that today, as they had choppers and ground crews out there. I don't know what was searched originally, but the articles all call it the biggest missing persons case of the time, so I would assume they searched this property since, famously, Jacob's very last footprints were found at the head of this driveway.

Since this is a farm I was thinking along the lines of the size of the parcel of land.. 5 acres, 15 acres... We don't know the size of the farm.

 

[WhyaDuck?]

What is lot size of the property being searched? Anyone know?

I wonder if this search differs from others by searching inside the property versus the land. It seems logical LE has already searched the land area of the farm.
Where the interiors of any of buildings been searched previously?

What do we know about previous searches in this area?

BBM

Here's some info on searches at this property:

The man said his parents are "pretty upset. They've been there their whole life. It really bothers me because it really hurts them." He said police had been to his parents' property in 1989, 2005 and Wednesday.

When his mother called Wednesday, the man said he thought she was joking. "It's the third time; it just won't end. It's getting to the point of harassment."

http://www.twincities.com/ci_15411710?nclick_check=1

 

[MNlady]

Since this is a farm I was thinking along the lines of the size of the parcel of land.. 5 acres, 15 acres... We don't know the size of the farm.

It depends on what they do on that farm, is it a dairy farm, do they raise beef cattle or do they plant crops such as corn or some such. It wouldn't be unusual for that farm to be 40 acres or 100 acres. It's prairie country.
The aerial looks like it's a large farm.

 

[MNlady]

There is much interest in the son of this family, but I don't know enough to say one way or another.

But, since the parents were in Europe at the time, there is no reason, I guess, why some stranger couldn't have used their property for his crimes.

The son lived with his parents in 1989. They were in Europe but he was not, he was home. He said he slept through the helicopters and noise of the search for Jacob but yet one of the news stories said that he told LE that a vehicle turned around at the end of their driveway that night...subsequently they were searching for a vehicle and not a person on foot. Quite some time later that person/vehicle was found and was ruled out.
IMO the new young guys looking over an old case put that vehicle rule out into the context that if the perp was on foot we'd better look again.