http://www.startribune.com/local/64675297.html?page=3&c=y
This is from a story in the Star Tribune.
This part is in the words of Aaron:
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.
They arrived at the store near 9 p.m. For 10 or 15 minutes, they studied the videos, renting "Naked Gun'' because their first choice, "Major League," was checked out.
After buying some candy, the boys headed home.
Halfway back, near the same spot where Larson heard the rustle, a man wearing a mask stepped from the dark.
"The first thing I remember was the flash of the gun, and a guy saying, 'Stop, I have a gun,'" Larson recalled. "I caught my breath. I thought it was a high school kid pulling a joke on us. ... Then it hits you: this is happening, it's no joke."
The man ordered them to lie face-down in the roadside ditch.
Larson remembers his heart "going 1,000 beats a minute," but having no clue what was happening. "You didn't hear about people being kidnapped or abducted. It didn't cross my mind."
The man asked Trevor to look at him, then asked his age. He did the same with Aaron, then Jacob.
"Then he told Trevor to run as fast as he can to the woods. Trevor was not gone that long, maybe 10 seconds, and he said the same to me or he'd shoot," Larson said. "I ran as fast as I could to catch up to Trevor."
After running 100 yards, Larson looked back -- and saw nothing but darkness.
Frantic, the boys ran to the Wetterling house. The baby sitter called her father, who called 911. Within minutes, the cul-de-sac lit up with squad cars.
Petrified, Larson looked out a living room window and kept telling himself he would see Jacob again. "Sooner or later, he's going to come and he's going to get out of the car and this will all be over."
Twenty years later, there's a part of him still looking out the window, waiting for his friend.
1. He heard a noise that shouldn't have been there halfway to the store.
2. They got to the store about 9pm and were there for 10 or 15 minutes.
3. Halfway back near the same spot, a man came out of the dark.
4. The babysitter called her Dad, who called 911.
I couldn't find the name of the clerk at the store. But again, it sounds like someone was in the woods when they were on the way to the store.
