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

[Fiercemom]

Indy - interesting information. I have always thought the abductor asked each one their age but Jacob & his friend were close in age so why Jacob vs. his friend. I don't think we will ever know what happened to Jacob.

 

[Spurser]

Indy, do you know if others in your unit feel/felt the same way as you? I haven't heard that theory before. Don't they usually suspect parents first? Maybe they did a polygraph and cleared him already.

 

[Lotus]

I've never heard that Jerry Wetterling was not Jacob's biological father, can this be confirmed?
As for the phone call, from what I understand Jacob called the party where his parents were attending and asked if they could go rent a movie, his mom said no but his dad said OK, as long as they were careful. I don't see how there could have been a lot of time to then call the abductor and have this all set up since their request to go rent a movie was sudden & out of the blue.
As for the abductor asking for Jacob specifically, I've never heard that one before and I don't see why this would have been kept from the media.

Personally I think the abductor was stalking Jacob prior to this and it probably started at the hockey rink where Jacob played, because just 10 months prior to this in nearby Cold Spring, MN a man with a gun abducted a 12 year old boy who was walking home from a hockey rink and assaulted him in his car and when he finally let the boy go he dumped him out on a rural road and told him to run and not look back or he would shoot. It's too similar to be just a coincidence IMO. And I read in an article that sexual predators such as this will commit a crime toward a child, then have three months of feeling empty, and then three months of starting to look, and they’ll do it again in nine months. The time slot fits, also this mans "preference" for preteen boys who are athletic.

I think the abductor had either found out that the parents were going to be out that night or he saw them leave their home together knowing that the kids would be alone and he stalked around their home and saw the kids starting to leave on their bikes and he ran on ahead and got into place. In an interview with Jacob's friend Aaron Larsen who was there that night, about halfway through their mile-long trip, Aaron heard a rustle in the tall grass by the road.

"A little shiver went through me," he said. "I didn't know if it was a person or an animal, but I kind of sped up. I don't know if Trevor or Jacob even heard it. ... It was just a strange noise that shouldn't be there."

Not wanting the others to know he was scared, he said nothing."

I think the abductor was confused as to who Jacob was because it was so dark, and perhaps he knew Jacob was around 11 years old that's why he asked them their ages. Trevor who was 10 was dismissed first, then it came down to Jacob & Aaron both eleven years old and I think the abductor deliberated for a second or two before he was sure which one was Jacob.
(I do wonder how the abductor got away though if there was no car parked nearby, did he live within walking distance?)

I hope that this gets solved one day. I read in an article that the investigators have at least 5 suspects in this case, I'm hoping one of them is the abductor and they can finally get enough evidence to make an arrest.

 

[Mr. E]

Lotus, that was a good post. Do you think if the abductor was stalking Jacob, and he noticed that the parents were out, that he would have tried to enter Jacob's home that night, or otherwise lure Jacob away?

 

[Lotus]

Mr. E, I've thought about that, it would make sense... he could have been planning a home invasion of some kind. I think this person is/was the obsessive type and he wanted to "do better" than the last abduction which was done more on an impulse IMO.
Although the escape route he took with Jacob down that gravel driveway has always confused me since it's believed there was no get away car parked down there.:waitasec:

 

[freshwater]

I, too, have never heard anything about Jerry Wetterling not being Jacob's biological father. I think any implication of Jacob's dad being involved in his son's disappearance is completely ridiculous and offensive. And I have no idea why the police wouldn't reveal that the abductor specifically asked for Jacob. There would be no reason to hold that information back.

 

[indybunny]

]It is not surprising that the media left out that Jerry Wetterling was Jacob's step dad. I was watching live when the authorities were chasing "balloon boy". When the balloon touched down, the media announced that the boy was safe. The kid wasnt even in the balloon to begin with! I recently saw an episode of cold case. There was a woman on there that had two kids who were murdered. She was crying and saying how innocent she was and that she has a new family now with a bio-kid and an adopted kid and how they were all happy and healthy. Why would she kill her first two and not her second two? Well, she was convicted of two murders. She later plea bargained and admitted she poisoned her kids. Nice. Most people cannot even wrap their heads around infanticide. That's a good thing. Our brains just cant comprehend killing anyone much less our own kids. Few grasp the depravity of the evil that the human heart is capable of. I only live 5 miles from where Jacob lived. It's still a small enough town where people talk and stuff is known that the "media" doesn't report. I dont keep in contact with any former guard members. No one really talked about it that much at the time. It was just very sad. There wasn't a lot of finger pointing there was just alot of searching. One thing is for certain, Jacob was not just laying in a field or the woods somewhere. We formed lines and were one arm length apart and searched for miles and miles. He ended up in a house or taken in a car somewhere, not just killed and lying in a ditch. I do not know how to verify that Jerry is his step dad. He may even have adopted Jacob. But just the fact that it was left out of the public information leads you wonder what else was left out. I am sorry if you think it is ridiculous. The truth of the matter is that most abductions and murders are committed by family members. That is a statistical fact. Yes it may be offensive to some, but I dont look at the world throught rose colored glasses. I dont want bad things to happen to people but they do. I bet a million bucks that Jerry never took a polygraph test. I would love for him to take it and i would even pay for it!
again, thanx for your time.[/QUOTE]

 

[Lotus]

Indybunny, yes most abductions are committed by family members but in this case the abductor bears too many similarities to the Cold Spring abductor/pedophile to be just a coincidence, and as far as not finding Jacob dead in a ditch shows that the person who did this was spooked by all the media attention and massive searches that were taking place. I wouldn't be surprised if this person lived right in the area, he probably didn't want to take any risks.

 

[arielilane]

Wikipedia may not always be credible; however, I thought this was worth posting.
My apology if this has already been discussed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Wetterling

The Charley Project has sketches of a man believed to have abducted Jacob and sexually assaulted the other boy in 1989.
In early 2009, Milwaukee police discovered child *advertiser censored* and an alleged video of Wetterling taken before the abduction in the home of Vernon Seitz, 62, of the St. Francis, Wisconsin area. Seitz had died in his home, but officers asked for additional assistance after the *advertiser censored* was discovered. Along with the child *advertiser censored*, articles involving missing children and maps of the cities those children were missing from were found in Seitz's home.

In addition, this is what Lotus posted about earlier:

It was also revealed that ten months prior to the Wetterling abduction another boy had been kidnapped, placed into a car, and sexually assaulted before being released. The modus operandi was similar to that in the Wetterling case: the man used a gun and upon releasing the boy told him to run and not look back or else he would be shot. That incident occurred ten miles from the location where Jacob, his brother, and friend were stopped.

 

[arielilane]

:twocents: Etan Patz who was six years old was taken off the streets of NY by a child molester and put in a cab.:furious: This was in 1979, so you just never know.

 

[PaulaKay]

http://www.sctimes.com/article/2010...ators-converge-near-Wetterling-abduction-site

ST. JOSEPH — Several vehicles and Stearns County squad cars are at a property near the site where Jacob Wetterling was abducted in 1989, and Sheriff John Sanner said a court order prohibits him from saying why they’re there.

 

[gitana1]

Wow. I hope there is resolution for Jacob and his long-suffering family.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Investigators converge near Wetterling abduction site

Several vehicles and Stearns County squad cars are at a property near the site where Jacob Wetterling was abducted in 1989, and Sheriff John Sanner said a court order prohibits him from saying why they’re there.

Neighbors reported seeing a line of several unmarked law enforcement vehicles as early at 8:15 a.m. today at the property, 29748-91st Ave. in St. Joseph.

The property is owned by Robert and Rita Rassier.

[snip]

Robert Rassier told the Times in a phone conversation today that investigators were at his residence but that he didn’t want to discuss the situation further.

Sanner said the Stearns County Attorney’s Office had advised him that a court order prevented him from saying why his investigators were at the residence. He declined to describe the court order. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension referred all calls to Sanner.

[snip]

There have been no arrests today in connection to the activity at the residence, he said. He didn’t know how long investigators were going to be at the Rassier property, he said.

More: http://www.sctimes.com/article/2010...ators-converge-near-Wetterling-abduction-site

 

[gitana1]

A similar article from FOX. http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/...wetterling-abduction-site-search-june-30-2010
I hope this is related to jacob and that answers are found a.s.a.p..

 

[ella971]

This is huge!! I can't wait to hear more. I'm so happy his parents may have some kind of peace.

 

[ella971]

Never give up!

 

[PaulaKay]

Just saw a bit on the news about this. Not much new info different than the St Cloud Times article.

They called the Wetterling family but they said they were under court order not to speak.

From the comments on the SC Times website, could it be possible the son of the couple who owns the house had something to do with it? It is mentioned this is the 2nd time they searched that property and the son lied previously about who was home at that time (he said the parents were home when in fact they had been away on vacation. Jacob went missing near the end of their driveway. I wonder how old the son was when this happened?

 

[PaulaKay]

They just showed live pictures from a helicopter and showed furniture?? being pulled out of a barn type structure...hmmmm

 

[concentric]

Please dear God, give the Wetterling family some answers.

 

[PaulaKay]

6pm news said "furniture and barrels" Also, another comment on the SC Times article thinks this could be related to another young man's disappearance from St John's University down the road from St Joseph.