All of this speculation and conjecture about what is in the investigative record, is pointless. Everyone currently involved in the investigation is privy to it. What Sheriff Sanner wants released will be released. It all may come out eventually. In the meantime, speculating about something when all the while, someone sitting in the background has all of the facts, is an exercise in futility.
I'm a lot more interested in other incidence of abduction of young boys or possible attempts.
From what I have learned, the "snatch and grab" type sexual molestation of young boys is quite rare now but it was probably more common before 1990. Statistics don't differentiate between them and the "seduction" type that usually occurs within families. The boys rarely suffered serious injury and LE did not consider it a major crime. In the rare situation where the boys were killed, it was usually a result of panic or otherwise unplanned. Occasionally it was a situation of a sexual sadist. These often did become "high profile" highly publicised cases. Some victims whose bodies were never found were probably written off as "runaways". Back then, crime against children, especially boys from lower social classes, were not a serious concern.
Now, it is generally understood that most men who sexually abuse boys have a long history, not necessarily criminal, of inappropriate behavior towards young boys. Back in 1989, I'm sure many in Law Enforcement considered any homosexual a potential child molester. In reality, while some convicted pedophiles do identify as "gay", many do not and some are married and and appear perfectly normal. Pedophilia however, is not a tendency that comes and goes. Actions and behavior may change, but the underlying sexual urges do not.
There is a saying amongst Cold Case investigators that the answer is "in the box" with the box being the case file and all collected evidence. A lot of the time this means re-checking people who were earlier cleared. I don't know if DR was "in the box" but anyone who was ever a suspect in any of the other attacks on boys in the area either is or should have been "in the box" There are also men from the area who were later convicted of sex crimes against young boys. This information might be hard to find if they left the State.
If JW's case was a regular "snatch and grab" that went bad, it is very likely the perp never did it again. Serial criminals will often "get out of the business" when they have a close call or something goes very wrong. I wonder if there were any crimes like that in the area after JW's case. (do locals know). If JW was the last of them for a long while, I would consider this evidence that the earlier ones were connected.
If JW's case was a sexual sadist, he very likely offended again. This crime would appear to be completely successful, particularly if the perp never became a subject of the investigation. There have been some \murders or abductions of young boys in the upper mid-west and many throughout the country since 1989. Has someone checked out men who lived in the St Cloud area in 1989 who later moved to areas where similar crimes occurred?
Whoever took, and presumably killed, Jacob was almost certainly a pedophile. That means he displayed certain tendencies before 10/89 and after that he may have tried very hard to conceal. Somewhere in all of this, a connection might be made. Joy Baker has kickstarted this thing in the right direction.