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

[human]

1. It was dark dark dark No street lights there at all. No houses

2. I have never heard if they said it was Jacob's sock.

3. Do you mean the barber from Wisconsin? He lived several hours away by car. Milwaukee area

4. The man in the car was a neighbor that lived past the DR farm on the way to the Tom Thumb. There were several houses that were closer together, but much further apart than city houses.

5. The said it was very dry out so the dogs had a hard time finding scent

6. I would be very surprised if anyone was by the Wetterling house It was at the end of a cul de sac with maybe 5 houses. The Wetterlings had a dog as well. It is not a place that one could drive to and not be noticed. Impossible. So the perp would have to walk

 

[kymmcd]

I wonder if Dale Street existed back in 1989. Maybe there's a map on line somewhere showing what streets existing in the area back then.

 

[neverletgo]

I wonder if Dale Street existed back in 1989. Maybe there's a map on line somewhere showing what streets existing in the area back then.

IIRC, there is such a map on one of these threads . . . I will try to do a search to find the post/map!

 

[Jbrown324320]

Welcome Gemmcee! Great first post!
A lot of the details are not going to be revealed by Stearns County Sheriff, even after all these years. The barber guy was definitely creepy, not sure if he looked like the sketch. I wish the police would have said more about the guy first on the scene. They never said which officer dismissed him and why (not to my knowledge) OR said if they interviewed him on what he saw. They probably took his excuse at face value that he was just listening to the police scanner. Maybe the police trusted all the small town locals and a local did it?? There were similar abductions- Johnny Gosch in IA 1982 and 1984 Eugene Martin also from IA.

 

[Jbrown324320]

I haven't made up my mind if the perp got away with Jacob in a car or not. Jacob's footprints dig into the sand of the driveway then disappear. To me, it sounds like pressure was applied to his one foot like he would be getting into a car. He also could have gone onto someone's back or something. There are trails from the DR house to the Abbey of St John's. Someone in good physical condition could possibly have carried him, but I am not sure. I don't think the sheriff's office knew what to do with a child abduction and dropped many balls. The Wetterlings have had to suffer many years for their mistakes and omissions. Hopefully more police offices know exactly what to do now to recover missing children.

 

[kymmcd]

I was thinking about the possibility of Jacob's abductor having a car. If I remember correctly, the vehicle that the abductor of that boy earlier the same year in Cold Springs, drove a dark blue car. Perhaps Jacob's abductor was the same man and the dark blue car was parked nearby and since it was dark, the boys didn't see it.l

 

[human]

A car would not have been parked on the road. The road is narrow and has ditches.

A car parked on the side of the road would have been noticed.

The option would be in the DR driveway.

 

[amber1]

Could the abductor parked the car elsewhere where the boys couldn't see it? Maybe he took him on foot, but had a vehicle parked nearby? Or maybe someone else had the vehicle?
Do you guys think there is just one person involved or more than one? Just curious to hear everyone's thoughts

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

Could the abductor parked the car elsewhere where the boys couldn't see it? Maybe he took him on foot, but had a vehicle parked nearby? Or maybe someone else had the vehicle?
Do you guys think there is just one person involved or more than one? Just curious to hear everyone's thoughts

I have also wondered if there was more than one person involved.

 

[human]

there was nothing for a long ways between the DR house and the next homes, so the only option I can see would be the DR driveway

 

[Peazzzer]

This case has always bothered me, I have wondered about this boy since this happened. My youngest son was born in '88, so every year I come back to thinking of Jacob; I wanted to name my son Jacob, I have always liked that name. Then this boy Jacob is stolen into the night.
I am sure if there is an answer, that WS and it's sluethers will find it!! You guys have taught me so much. I just can't imagine losing a child like that, just whoooosh!!! Never to be seen again.

 

[ELOCsoul]

JBrown324320 wrote: "There are trails from the DR house to the Abbey of St John's. Someone in good physical condition could possibly have carried him, but I am not sure."


No. Those running trails to St John's did not exist back in 1989. I believe this was addressed in earlier pages of these threads.
Thanks,
Rob

 

[ELOCsoul]

Could the abductor parked the car elsewhere where the boys couldn't see it? Maybe he took him on foot, but had a vehicle parked nearby? Or maybe someone else had the vehicle?
Do you guys think there is just one person involved or more than one? Just curious to hear everyone's thoughts

The only place a car could have been parked would have been DR's driveway. The nearest street would have been too far away to carry Jacob without risking capture before escaping the area.

 

[neverletgo]

I wonder if Dale Street existed back in 1989. Maybe there's a map on line somewhere showing what streets existing in the area back then.

IIRC, there is such a map on one of these threads . . . I will try to do a search to find the post/map!

I think these were the posts I was remembering with the maps . . . but unfortunately, it looks like the images aren't there anymore.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5646155&postcount=354


http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5646279&postcount=356

Perhaps Lotus still has the maps saved somewhere? raying:

 

[kymmcd]

I found this map (half way down the page) http://saintautumn.wordpress.com/20...erling-abduction-part-2-further-developments/
It came from an old St. Cloud Times article, but I don't know how old.

 

[kymmcd]

http://saintautumn.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/the-jacob-wetterling-abduction/

The map at the bottom of this page has the areas darkened that did not exist in 1989, but Dale Street isn't darkened. So I guess that means it existed in 1989.

 

[kymmcd]

In the 911 transcript is says that Trevor say that Jacob's abductor sounded like he had a cold sort of. I wonder if DR sounded like he had a cold when LE talked with him after Jacob was abducted.

 

[kymmcd]

I found Richard Bahner Sr.'s brother's obituary (it is half way down the page) http://www.paynesvillearea.com/news/Obits/archives/june12obits.html

So from both obituaries (Richard's and his brother's) it seems that Richard Bahner Sr. spent his entire life in that area of Minnesota (Paynesville and St. Cloud). Between Paynesville and St. Cloud is St. Joseph, Cold Springs and Richmond. Jared was abducted in Cold Springs and driven to Richmond.

 

[shergal]

Here's the WS link to where we discussed the Bahner tapes once before. From what I recall, this Bahner connection was disproved. I'll see if I can find something online about it.

MN MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #2 - Page 9 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[kymmcd]

I have been searching and haven't found anything about the Bahner tapes being disproved. Plus, the tapes were talking about Richard Jr., not Richard Sr.