MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #4

[ELOCsoul]

Hi - I live in nearby Wisconsin and have always been intrigued by Jacob's case. Recent researching of the case has led me to this forum, which I have found to be very interesting. After catching up with the large amount of posts in this thread, I have a few questions and observations.

But before I begin, there is a news item today regard DR registering a complaint with the State of Minnesota with regards to LE's pursuit of him as a POI. Here' s a link to the story:

http://origin-minnesota.publicradio...8/02/news/wetterling-case-person-of-interest/

Questions I have, that I hope some of you can help answer:

1. DR says he called 911 the night Jacob was abducted. What time did DR make the call? Also, what time did the babysitter's father make his 911 call?

2. In the television interviews, DR fumbles a bit in describing what he said during the 911 call. He says LE would have the recording of the call. Has anyone read a transcript of the call, what was said, etc? We've heard the call from the Wetterling's home, why haven't we heard more about DR's call?

3. There seem to be 2 accounts of how the kidnapper selected Jacob from among the 3 boys. One account indicates that the kidnapper asked the boys their ages one at a time, and released the 1st and 2nd boys after hearing each of their ages, but before hearing the ages of all 3 boys. The other account indicates he asked all their ages, and then let 2 of the boys go. The difference here is critical I think, because in the case of the former account, it would indicated that the kidnapper was targeting Jacob specifically.

4. Re: the Cold Spring case, there has been much mention of the statue of limitations on sexual assaults expiring as to why a known suspect may not have been charged in that case. However, might there be a longer statue of limitations on a charge of kidnapping?

5. Much has been made of DR's apparent indifference to the situation on the night of the abduction. There are common references that suggest DR did not help with the search that night, and stayed in the house. However, in the TV interview, DR says that he did go out and search the outbuildings that night. Is there a solid "source" of information that confirms DR did not search for Jacob that night?

Thank you,
Rob

 

[mikkismom]

New article from across the pond:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-Dan-Rassier-says-police-violate-rights.html

 

[Trino]

DR has sent a letter of complaint to 14 agencies.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews...-case-person-interest-files-complaint-alleges

 

[dollywood]

Morning all --- any idea if a timeline has been posted on the Wetterling case. A timeline of what was witnessed when and by whom. This case is most troublesome. Thanks.

 

[Jbrown324320]

ELOCsoul-
I am looking into some of your questions. I found an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper interviewing the boys that were with Jacob in 2009. Trevor was Jacob's brother and Aaron Larson was his best friend.

snipped
"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."

http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=64655247

 

[shergal]

Seems to me that Dan is missing all the attention that was focused on him back in 2010, even though it was negative attention. (JMO) When they were searching his farm he was all over the nightly news here in various interviews, always claiming to have "special" info and theories about what really happened and "what I saw that day." He said at the time in one of his TV interviews that he shared this info with LE, but evidently they didn't buy what his theories were. You'd think he'd be happy talk about this has pretty much died down and not be dragging it all up again and sending it to lots of news media and several prominent politicians.

I sometimes think Rassier is his own worst enemy, he smirks and answers interview questions slyly (I'll add links to his interviews in a minute for those who haven't heard them all.) and has an attitude of knowing more than the cops do in this case. I don't think that's done him any favors.

OTOH, I find it hard to believe that they are still "testing some items" - although "waiting for technology to advance so additional testing can be done" makes some sense.

 

[shergal]

Here are several links from Aubrey Immelman's page which contain the various interviews done by DR.
http://www.immelman.us/news/jacob-wetterling-latest-news/

http://www.immelman.us/news/dan-rassier-teaching-concerns/

http://www.immelman.us/news/wetterling-suspect-dan-rassier/

http://www.immelman.us/news/jacob-wetterling-rassier-search/


And Dolly - here is a timeline with photos on Jacob's case:
http://saintautumn.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/the-jacob-wetterling-abduction/

 

[Jbrown324320]

that is true, shergal, DR probably misses the attention, however I was thinking that DR is correct in calling out the sherriff- the sherriff either has to name him as a suspect or apologize if they didn't find anything. He can't leave everyone in limbo for this long. I know Sherriff Sanner won't even take calls or emails from Josh Guimond's family and he has never responded to any of my past emails. This isn't painting him in a positive light- especially when he is working for the public.
ELOCsoul- I think the 911 call made by the neighbor was around 9:15pm. I have not read anywhere that the sheriff has confirmed DR's police call about someone turning around in his driveway or what time the call happened. DR sure isn't doing himself any favors when he said he "saw something" but won't say what it is to reporters because he "has trust issues with the media". Maybe he is worried about revenge from the actual abductor.

 

[Jbrown324320]

If I had any info about seeing a child being kidnapped, I would spill everything I had in order to try to help find the child. To me, the child and the family are the most important thing here. DR seems to me that he could be worried about more than the one abductor's retribution. I think the abductor may be part of a group. Like today's drug buyers are worried about the drug dealer and his friends getting revenge for "snitching". Something big is preventing him from spilling everything to help a child and a family.

 

[shergal]

I wonder if his "secret" involves the pedos out at St. John's? I'm sure he is friends with lots of them, many of them were priests in his family's parish and he teaches music at St. John's also. Maybe he doesn't want to get a special friend in trouble?

 

[jenilou]

I've followed this thread for a long time and mostly lurked. I have to say that DR filing a complaint just seems like another bid for attention. I think he thinks he is smarter than most people and has obviously gotten away with murder. I think he's probably never committed another crime (have his parents gone out of town again??) but I do think that he specifically targeted Jacob that night. My hunch is that he had seen Jacob, knew him, and wanted HIM. The only person who had the means to do this was DR...it is simply not plausible to think that some random pedophile was roaming the rural country roads looking for 11 year old boys to kidnap. I don't care if there is a university full of pedophile priests close by...and maybe that is where DR's tendancies came from? who knows what happened to him as a child. But Jacob is on that property somewhere and everyone knows it.

It breaks my heart to think that his family has had to live down the street from this creep for all these years knowing what he probably did to their child...but not wanting to move for fear that Jacob would come home.

Just because you've never committed another crime doesn't mean you aren't capable...

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

I might in the minority here, but I am not convinced that DR is guilty. There is no evidence (at least that the public is aware of) that connects DR to any crime. Innocent until proven guilty. Until LE can provide solid evidence to link DR to Jacob's abduction (other than it happened on his property), don't we have to be open to ALL possibilities? Leave no stone unturned? I realize that DR's behavior may sometimes paint him in a negative light, but to suggest that that makes him a criminal, let alone a murderer, doesn't really sit well with me.

Of course, this is only my opinion. I pray that someday the Wetterlings will have answers and the person(s) responsible (whoever it may be) is/are punished appropriately. Until then, I'm going to continue to hope that there will be a happy ending, however naive of me that might be. It IS possible. Chances are small, I know, but we have seen it happen. I'm not going to let go of that. Doesn't Jacob deserve that?

 

[Jbrown324320]

KeepHopeAlive, I too think that DR is probably not guilty of kidnapping, but I think he is holding back very important information about the case. The priest of the church the Wetterlings attended has a history of abusing altar boys. Jacob was an altar boy at St Joseph's. Another priest who lived in the rectory with this priest (who led a youth group that Shergal attended) also has a history of abusing young boys. Two priests living in the same house who have abused children can come up with some bad ideas together. Both priests are still alive and now "on restriction" at St John's. News agencies followed restricted priests most who are still going off Abbey grounds and are around young people- against the restriction.

I feel the abductor wore a mask because he was afraid the boys would recognize him. Possibly from church?? Sheriff Sanner has covered up a lot of things for the priests and swept a lot under the rug. It is time they spill their dark secrets!!

 

[jenilou]

The fact that the abduction occurred on a particular piece of property might bear less weight if it weren't a sparsely populated rural area. How could anyone but DR have known these boys were out there and been able to get dressed and lying in wait? His parents were gone. He'd probably watched Jacob and his brother ride by numerous times before but couldn't act because he lives with his parents.

I think Jacob Wetterling deserves justice and I think he will get it.

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

Thank you for that information, Jbrown.

Abuse crimes, especially those against innocent children, are disgusting and not acceptable. I hope that someone has an attack of conscience and speaks up.

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

I just don't think DR is the only person who had the opportunity. If I'm not mistaken, I've read that the elder Mr. and Mrs. R. are/were active members of their church. Does anyone know if this is correct? If I'm wrong, please correct me. Wouldn't their friends and probably others in the church/community know that they were out of town? Couldn't someone have taken advantage of that information/situation? There are a number of directions this could go. Since they haven't been able to link DR to the abduction (that we are aware of), shouldn't they be looking at all possibilities? DR turned out to be the perfect scapegoat for the abductor(s), if he is innocent. Because of this, I'm not ready to the finger at DR.

 

[jenilou]

How would someone else have known that young boys would decide to go ride their bikes at that exact time?

 

[human]

Jacob did not attend the Catholic Church. Jacob was not an altar boy. That information is totally and absolutely false

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

Jacob did not attend the Catholic Church. Jacob was not an altar boy. That information is totally and absolutely false

That would explain why I hadn't heard that before.

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

How would someone else have known that young boys would decide to go ride their bikes at that exact time?

I don't know. Maybe Jacob was being stalked? I'm not trying to argue with you (or anyone else). I just want to make sure all possibilities have been considered.