MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #16

[Sasquatch321]

The red/orange wagon was seen in Kiwi Ct. on either 10/21 or 10/22, and was believed to have passed the boys on their way to the Tom Thumb store on the night of 10/22.

Where is this fact confirmed? By the boys?

 

[human]

Where is this fact confirmed? By the boys?

For 100% I heard it at the time.

Nothing else was said about it that I know. Was the car ever identified?

 

[Sasquatch321]

For 100% I heard it at the time.

Nothing else was said about it that I know. Was the car ever identified?

All I've ever heard is no car ever passed the boys on the way or back. Which supported the on foot and local theory even more.

 

[human]

No way to prove it, but I do remember the orange station wagon. I heard it on the radio. For sure I never heard anything else about it.

I wonder where there is documentation on this

 

[nmogren]

All I've ever heard is no car ever passed the boys on the way or back. Which supported the on foot and local theory even more.

The only thing confirmed by the boys is that no cars passed them on the way BACK.


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[Sasquatch321]

The only thing confirmed by the boys is that no cars passed them on the way BACK.


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As far as on the way, no verifiable information to that issue has been released. So it's stories after the fact that are creating this rumor. What has been released is that one of the boys heard an unnatural sound off in the weeds on the way to the store.

 

[ELOCsoul]

As far as on the way, no verifiable information to that issue has been released. So it's stories after the fact that are creating this rumor. What has been released is that one of the boys heard an unnatural sound off in the weeds on the way to the store.

No, it's been published that cars passed the boys on the way to the Tom Thumb store. Refer to the book, page 125. There are footnotes that reference the printed sources of the information.

Next week I'll publish a list of all the cars that were reported as suspicious.

 

[human]

I wonder why nothing else was ever said about the wagon.

The red car was dismissed. We all heard that.

 

[Sasquatch321]

I think there could be a big difference between what the boys saw on the way to the store versus what other people saw in previous days or cars passing the boys on the way to the store. I didn't know someone saw the boys and cars passing them on the way to the store. Is the information coming directly from the boys?

 

[Wisdom]

Here is a handy Google street view link for anyone wanting to see the abduction site clearly with 360 deg views. You can click on the picture and follow the same path the boys took right back into Kiwi court or in the other direction to where the old Tom Thumb was. I think it says the view was done in July of 2008 so things would've been different in 1989 but still gives you an idea.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5555,-94.296145,3a,75y,106.35h,77.37t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1slIPoyzLsgXVTqKWOgnBkdg!2e0

 

[human]

Looks like the ditches are too deep to park off the road

 

[Sasquatch321]

I just read through St. Autumns, Immelmans, Joy Bakers, and CNN's take on the abduction of Jacob Wetterling. Not one of them talk about any cars passing the boys on the way to tom thumb. A couple of them did point out that Aaron heard a noise near the abduction site on the way to the store. I guess I'm not understanding if the boys or someone else said that cars were passing them on the way to the store, why it isn't talked about in any of these stories? Then you have Elocs book, page 125, "It MAY have been one of several cars that passed the boys on the way to the tom thumb store that night"

Ok, well who said cars passed them on the way to the store, the boys? Was it someone else who saw the boys and cars passing them? If the boys saw cars passing them, then show me where they say that. If someone else saw the boys and cars passing them on the way to the store, show me where they say that.

 

[Wisdom]

I just read through St. Autumns, Immelmans, Joy Bakers, and CNN's take on the abduction of Jacob Wetterling. Not one of them talk about any cars passing the boys on the way to tom thumb. A couple of them did point out that Aaron heard a noise near the abduction site on the way to the store. I guess I'm not understanding if the boys or someone else said that cars were passing them on the way to the store, why it isn't talked about in any of these stories? Then you have Elocs book, page 125, "It MAY have been one of several cars that passed the boys on the way to the tom thumb store that night"

Ok, well who said cars passed them on the way to the store, the boys? Was it someone else who saw the boys and cars passing them? If the boys saw cars passing them, then show me where they say that. If someone else saw the boys and cars passing them on the way to the store, show me where they say that.

Trevor said several cars passed the trio on their way to the store but no vehicles passed them as they rode their bicycles back toward home.

Minneapolis Star Tribune
October 24, 1989
St. Joseph boy, 11, kidnapped at gunpoint
Pat Doyle, Staff Writer
[Stearns County Sheriff Charlie] Grafft said an account of the abduction provided by Jacob’s brother, Trevor, 10, is credible and authorities assume the boy has been kidnapped. Trevor said that he, Jacob, and Aaron Larson, 11, were returning on bicycles from a convenience store a mile from home where they had rented a videotaped movie. The area is about 5 miles west of St. Cloud.
They were about halfway home when a man wearing dark clothing, black boots and carrying a pistol walked out of a long gravel driveway leading to a farm.
“He had a mask; it looked like pantyhose, on his head,” Trevor said. “He told us to get off our bikes or he’d shoot. We did what he said. We laid in a ditch and he asked our ages.”
After the boys told their ages, “He looked at Aaron’s face and he told me to run to the woods as fast as I could,” Trevor said.
Said Aaron, “He told me to run, too, or else he’d shoot.”
Just before they began running, “We saw him grab him (Jacob) by the arm,” Trevor said. Several minutes later, he said, they looked around, but Jacob and the masked man were gone.
Trevor said several cars passed the trio on their way to the store but no vehicles passed them as they rode their bicycles back toward home. He said they heard rustling in the weeds along the road at one point but thought nothing unusual. Trevor and Aaron said they didn’t hear or see a vehicle, but a person who lives nearby told police he heard tires squealing at about 9 p.m.
“I have a very sick feeling there was a car and he was taken away,” Jerry Wetterling said.

 

[Sasquatch321]

Trevor said several cars passed the trio on their way to the store but no vehicles passed them as they rode their bicycles back toward home.

Minneapolis Star Tribune
October 24, 1989
St. Joseph boy, 11, kidnapped at gunpoint
Pat Doyle, Staff Writer
[Stearns County Sheriff Charlie] Grafft said an account of the abduction provided by Jacob’s brother, Trevor, 10, is credible and authorities assume the boy has been kidnapped. Trevor said that he, Jacob, and Aaron Larson, 11, were returning on bicycles from a convenience store a mile from home where they had rented a videotaped movie. The area is about 5 miles west of St. Cloud.
They were about halfway home when a man wearing dark clothing, black boots and carrying a pistol walked out of a long gravel driveway leading to a farm.
“He had a mask; it looked like pantyhose, on his head,” Trevor said. “He told us to get off our bikes or he’d shoot. We did what he said. We laid in a ditch and he asked our ages.”
After the boys told their ages, “He looked at Aaron’s face and he told me to run to the woods as fast as I could,” Trevor said.
Said Aaron, “He told me to run, too, or else he’d shoot.”
Just before they began running, “We saw him grab him (Jacob) by the arm,” Trevor said. Several minutes later, he said, they looked around, but Jacob and the masked man were gone.
Trevor said several cars passed the trio on their way to the store but no vehicles passed them as they rode their bicycles back toward home. He said they heard rustling in the weeds along the road at one point but thought nothing unusual. Trevor and Aaron said they didn’t hear or see a vehicle, but a person who lives nearby told police he heard tires squealing at about 9 p.m.
“I have a very sick feeling there was a car and he was taken away,” Jerry Wetterling said.

Ok, now I believe it. That is serious information.

 

[Sasquatch321]

There has always been the issue of who could have saw the boys and known their return up over the hill that night besides someone local and on foot. Several cars passed them on the way to the store, kind of puts a hole in that theory. LE has to explain the print evidence, how were they able to determine no vehicle was involved when what they have shown us is a footprint with resistance next to a tire track. And also imo, what looks like stop and go tire tracks.

 

[ELOCsoul]

Ok, now I believe it. That is serious information.

Hopefully so. As I've said to many, many people, it pays to go back through old information to find something new. I had literally just read notes from a conversation with someone who grew up in MN and now lives just down the road from me. He had read the book and called me a couple weeks ago, wanting to share his story. Just after reading my notes from that conversation, I picked up the book for a few minutes and realized the number of times a red station wagon had been mentioned in particular the one that had passed the boys on their way to the Tom Thumb store. Could be something, could be nothing.

 

[human]

If it was so dark, who said it was an orange or a red station wagon? Big difference. And color of a car is hard to see, And if you have been in the dark and headlights come on you, what can you see?

Try walking in the total dark and see what is visible to you.

Of course, for a lot of people it would be hard to find such a dark place.

And about where were these cars? Closer to civilization or way down by the spot?

 

[tinner007]

Hopefully so. As I've said to many, many people, it pays to go back through old information to find something new. I had literally just read notes from a conversation with someone who grew up in MN and now lives just down the road from me. He had read the book and called me a couple weeks ago, wanting to share his story. Just after reading my notes from that conversation, I picked up the book for a few minutes and realized the number of times a red station wagon had been mentioned in particular the one that had passed the boys on their way to the Tom Thumb store. Could be something, could be nothing.

It would be helpful if LE would reiterate everything they've publicly released to freshen details that may have been lost over the years or only remembered by a few. I truly believe they're confused themselves sometimes.

 

[tinner007]

If it was so dark, who said it was an orange or a red station wagon? Big difference. And color of a car is hard to see, And if you have been in the dark and headlights come on you, what can you see?

Try walking in the total dark and see what is visible to you.

Of course, for a lot of people it would be hard to find such a dark place.

And about where were these cars? Closer to civilization or way down by the spot?

To call the area out of civilization is absurd. It was 1 mile from the Wetterlings house to the store. As kids we could bike from one side of town to the other (east to west) in 10 min.

 

[human]

Um, there are zero houses for a long ways.

I live and lived out in the country. We country people call the city civilization. When my kids were in school, people would not drive to our house because it was tooooooooo far out there- One and 1/2 miles from a main city street.

The google drive that is posted shows how isolated it is. Even more so back then. No street lights, no house lights.