MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #15

[FBI Surveillance Van]

I would submit that we don't know much of anything about Kevin, the car and who was in it other than the responses during his interview with LE and note that the discovery that he was even in the driveway was by chance conversation.

Something else I would note, depending on the type farming the family does, there is usually trucks that go in and out on a daily basis with feed, pickup milk from the holding tank, fertilizer, etc. I was not seeing that activity in the pictures we have seen here.

Did you ever compare that unidentified tire track (believed to be ~golf cart?) with a Honda Odyssey ATV?

 

[human]

Taking the time to stage footprint evidence, while the boys are in route to home, and sure to be calling police as soon as they get there? Never. What about the other prints there, and did the perp stage those too? Do you also think that DR crammed his size 11D foot into a 9EEE to make it look like DAH did it? K.I.S.S. - Jacob's print looks exactly like one would expect it to look, if Jacob had his jacket pulled over his head, and then was forcefully tossed into the backseat of a car (equipped with childproof locks) the same way as happened to Jared.

How do you kmow DR wears that size of shoe?

And no where has it been identified that any footprints belong to the perp. If I have missed it, could you please cite the reference where it says that some prints are those of the perp? Thank you

 

[tinner007]

I once thought the same thing about the print.

They aren't 9EEE, tracker posted what he thought they were some time ago, it's some of boot

Is this the print you are talking about.



Blue arrow?

 

[tinner007]

I once thought the same thing about the print.

They aren't 9EEE, tracker posted what he thought they were some time ago, it's some of boot

Refer to post #492 of this thread

 

[livstabler]

Wow, never thought of a 3 or 4 wheeler as a getaway vehicle before. "Every" farm had one of those then, did DR? With a trailer for hauling wood? Or even without?

 

[tinner007]

Wow, never thought of a 3 or 4 wheeler as a getaway vehicle before. "Every" farm had one of those then, did DR? With a trailer for hauling wood? Or even without?

Little different. Not a normal vehicle for farm use.

 

[Sasquatch321]

Anything is "possible". Correct me if I am mistaken, but I thought Tracker stated that it was highly unlikely that the perp would stage the scene by planting footprints. Way too difficult, and would probably be even more incriminating.

Without perp prints around or by jacobs, and only a lone footprint facing straight towards the tire track, it is possible right now. It worked for 15 years, maybe suspected all along. Who knows hopefully they can lay it down for us soon.

 

[thenotebook]

They are on this thread and all over Google

That has never been confirmed by LE or anyone "official" as a perp print. Of course we hope it is, but we don't know for sure. It could be LE, or anyone else who happened to walk on DR's driveway within the couple of days before that pic was taken. I'm not trying to argue, I just don't want inaccurate information floating around for people browsing the thread.

 

[tinner007]

Running shoes....Likely left by someone who went for a run in the afternoon

 

[ELOCsoul]

Wow, never thought of a 3 or 4 wheeler as a getaway vehicle before. "Every" farm had one of those then, did DR? With a trailer for hauling wood? Or even without?

Any atv tracks in the driveway were most likely from LE driving there

 

[FBI Surveillance Van]

Maybe.

We know that DR was listed as a POI.

Going on the assumption that there was some sort of pedophile ring operating in the 80's across the US, would it be a stretch to consider that, like the underground railroad back in the days of slavery, there was some type of system in place and so-called 'safe' locations in order for this ring to operate? Could DR's farm have been one of these locations?

If that were true, then DR's farm (as a so-called "safe" location), would be the last place on earth for a child abduction ring to commit a child abduction. Wouldn't be "safe" to do that.

 

[Sasquatch321]

View attachment 73970

View attachment 73971

DR's running shoes?

 

[tinner007]

DR's running shoes?

Right which would correlate perfectly with him stating he went for a run that afternoon.

 

[livstabler]

Little different. Not a normal vehicle for farm use.

View attachment 73969

I mean a regular 3 or 4 wheeler, that's why I didn't quote the atv post. I haven't seen anything about the golf cart tracks referenced above.

like these:

 

[Sasquatch321]

Right which would correlate perfectly with him stating he went for a run that afternoon.

I was just going to say, he was running up that diveway that day, all over.

 

[livstabler]

Any atv tracks in the driveway were most likely from LE driving there

LE were on atv's that night?

 

[FBI Surveillance Van]

Is this the print you are talking about.

View attachment 73964

Blue arrow?

Waiting to see if Tracker is able to confirm or deny the possibility of 9EEE shoeprints in ANY of the crime scene pics he has examined.

 

[chaplain1]

View attachment 73970

View attachment 73971

Running shoes....Likely left by someone who went for a run in the afternoon

They aren't 9eee?

 

[ELOCsoul]

Why debate back and forth as to when DR was named a POI? As suggested by several posters, he was likely a POI privately long before naming him publicly. Also, LE has said several times that they had several suspects in Jacob's case. DR is not the only POI on LE's radar. A couple of excerpts from the book:

On Monday, October 23, 1989, a bloodhound tracked Jacob's scent from the road up the Rassier's unpaved driveway for about forty yards. It was at that spot where Jacob's last footprints were found in the dirt, with a fresh set of car tire tracks alongside. Detectives interpreted the last footprints as evidence of resistance from Jacob. A Nike shoe, similar in style and size to the shoes he was wearing, was used to help identify the prints as Jacob's. The bloodhound did not indicate Jacob’s scent beyond that point. Detective Steve Mund made plaster casts of several footprints and tire tracks found in the driveway.

Investigators took casts of tire tracks found near the kid-napping scene but they did not communicate a high level of certainty that the tracks were those of the kidnapper. BCA director, Mark Shields said he was “not confident” that the kidnapper made the tracks, noting they were considered as possible evi-dence at that point. pg 101



In October 1995, Sheriff Kostreba noted that there were four top suspects in Jacob's kidnapping. He said that two of the suspects were from central Minnesota and neither of them were the stereotypical pedophile. The other two suspects were not from the area but were pedophiles. Aside from those top suspects, Kostreba added that there were another half-dozen possible suspects that investigators had been unable to rule out. pg 160


Rassier has said that from the beginning of the investiga-tion he had told detectives repeatedly about the two cars, despite that only one of the cars had been reported on. Investigators appealed to the public to help identify the drivers of a handful of suspicious cars that witnesses had seen near the abduction scene, or within a few blocks of there. If indeed Rassier actually in-formed investigators about the cars he saw on October 22, 1989, from the very beginning, it's unusual that law enforcement officials made no pleas asking the public to help identify those particular cars. Investigators had made it a point to publicize the need to identify other cars, so if Rassier’s story is true, why didn’t they make a plea to identify the car Dan Rassier said he saw at about the time of the abduction? Why didn't they make a plea to identify the car that Rassier said he saw driving through his yard in the middle of the afternoon?[/I] pg 265

 

[ELOCsoul]

LE were on atv's?

Yep, beginning on Monday October 23rd....again from the book...

Sheriff Grafft recounted the efforts of his deputy staff. Grafft had called in a State Patrol helicopter to search the area. He said he boarded the chopper himself for the air search that began at about 10:30 P.M. The actual time of the helicopter search is an issue of debate, however, given that the nearest State Patrol helicopter was stationed 60 miles away in Brainerd, it’s probable that the helicopter search would not have started until later that night, most likely after about 11:00P.M. By midnight, the helicopter was searching the area around a residential area up to ½ mile north of the abduction site.

The searchlight-equipped chopper hovered back and forth several times across the immediate area surrounding the crime site. The crew on board the helicopter carefully surveyed the area, scouring the woods and open fields for any sign of Jacob. They carefully combed over the area around the site of the abduction. At one point, the chopper was hovering so low that it nearly came into contact with utility wires near the abduction scene. A total of thirty-five deputies and police officers searched the surrounding area well into that first night, ultimately suspending the search at 3:00 A.M.

The large numbers of law enforcement officials that had been dispatched to search for Jacob were based at the Del-Win Ballroom. It served as a temporary command center for coordinating the search effort. By Monday, there were four helicopters, at least six all-terrain vehicles, and a bloodhound dog involved in the search.

On Monday morning October 23, 1989, sheriff's deputies canvassed the neighborhood, interviewing everyone in the area in a door-to-door search for information that could help locate Jacob. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officers used all-terrain vehicles to search the area as well. Search teams of law enforcement officials and volunteers covered a twenty-five square mile area around the abduction site. Despite their thorough efforts, no signs of Jacob or his abductor were discovered. pg. 98