MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #5

[Jbrown324320]

I agree LE should be harassing the Bahners. Leprikawn posted this info last October:

Leprikawn10-18-2012, 07:59 PM
Richard D. Bahner (August 28, 1941 - February 16, 2012) was the father of brothers Richard David Bahner, Jr. (born March 16, 1965), and Michael Alan Bahner (born April 18, 1972). Richard Sr. was predeceased by his son Alan Boyd Bahner (February 14, 1964 – October 7, 1998).

On April 4, 1995, brothers Richard Bahner, Jr., and Michael Bahner were charged with felony criminal sexual conduct involving the sodomy and other sexual abuse of a 7-year-old boy who was an acquaintance of the Bahner family. The sexual abuse occurred in 1990. At that time, the Bahner family resided in Clearwater, MN (Wright county).

On August 30, 1985, Richard Bahner, Sr., was charged with felony criminal sexual conduct for having sexual intercourse with a minor female between August 1984 and March 1985, at his residence at 1020 Porter Street, Clearwater, MN.

On April 16, 1985, Alan Boyd Bahner was charged with felony criminal sexual conduct for having sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old girl on several occasions in 1983 at his residence in Clearwater, MN.

Richard Bahner, Sr.’s 2012 obituary is easily found via Google.

The court records related to the criminal charges referenced above are easily found at the Minnesota Judicial Branch public case access web site: http://www.mncourts.gov/publicaccess

Richard had 9 kids if you count Alan who died before him. Alan was arrested for molesting a 10 year old girl in 1983. He died in 1998 at age 34.

Also according to the info provided by Leprikawn, sons Richard Jr and Michael were charged in 1995 with a felony for molesting a 7 year old young boy in 1990 who was an acquaintance of the family. That is close to the date of Jacob's disappearance. What if they tried to shut him up and suffocated him?

 

[Cappuccino]

I do not believe a body is in the forest. Digging ground where there are tree roots? No way! Nightmare.

Do you not think that LE has looked at the Bahner's? Don't you think people have mentioned them to LE and the Wett erlings?

We have no idea what LE knows.

I think there were plenty of mistakes made in this. It was a shocking crime. I do not believe that LE is harassing DR. Why? Why not hassle Bahners? So much more palatable to the public.

As far as the father dying at the home of a friend, could be a GF. Could be a friend. Could be the family wanted nothing to do with him.

LE have looked at DR too, and in far more detail than they've ever looked at the Bahners. They haven't searched the Bahners property three times, have they even searched it once? Have they questioned them, polygraphed them, all without a lawyer present? Because when it comes to DR the answers to the above questions are all yes. And yet, DR is still not under arrest.

I don't believe that LE is concentrating on DR because they want to hassle him, but because they have tunnel vision about him. They apparently don't have tunnel vision about the Bahners, unpalatable as they may be to the public.

And its not quite true that we have no idea what LE knows when it comes to the case against DR. Obviously we don't know the details, but we do know that they've searched very hard and concentrated their efforts very strongly on DR - and they never had enough to arrest him. You can compare him to BTK as much as you like, but as soon as Dennis Rader actually appeared on LE's radar, it didn't take that long for them to arrest him. This suspect has been on LE's radar from the start and still no evidence, nothing, nada.

Obviously Rassier is a suspect, but it has to be said, he's not the only suspect.

 

[Cappuccino]

I agree LE should be harassing the Bahners. Leprikawn posted this info last October:



Richard had 9 kids if you count Alan who died before him. Alan was arrested for molesting a 10 year old girl in 1983. He died in 1998 at age 34.

Also according to the info provided by Leprikawn, sons Richard Jr and Michael were charged in 1995 with a felony for molesting a 7 year old young boy in 1990 who was an acquaintance of the family. That is close to the date of Jacob's disappearance. What if they tried to shut him up and suffocated him?

Jeepers creepers!!

This family sound like the Wests - as in Fred and Rosemary. :scared:

 

[human]

Did they live in Clearwater then when Jacob was kidnapped?

How far is Clearwater from St. Joe?

I imagine some of the molestation was with family members.

The killer of Sierra LaMar was raised in a molesting family as well. iI think he had attacked other women as well.

What a crew, eh?

So why not pick on them instead of DR? If you feel they have nothing on DR, why not go for the Bahner's? Better choice in my book.

Nope. They have gone for DR. Why? They can have no arrest with him or no arrest with the Bahner's. Why DR?

 

[Cappuccino]

Tunnel vision is a strange phenomenom, human. And it plagues far too many police departments, and indeed, true crime forums.

 

[Jbrown324320]

I verified the charges against MB on the court website- convicted of serious felony in 1995- crim sexual conduct- one count in the first, one in the second (2d?) and two in the third degree. Ordered to have no contact with the victim. The abuse happened in 1990 when MB was 18. He served 14 DAYS and got 25 years of supervised probation. What a crock. That doesn't sound like a first time offender to me. If Leprikawn was right and it was a 7 year old boy, ugh. 4 counts of criminal sexual conduct on a seven year old?

 

[human]

Can you believe it?

As far as suspects, DR was not on their radar screen in the beginning. I wonder what happened to changed their mind?

LE was looking at him before the public knew.

 

[Jbrown324320]

Alan Bahner had a pretty long rap sheet too. Yeesh.

Some of those "tapes" indicated that someone named Ben saw the Bahner brothers at the kidnapping site at 8:40pm. Did LE look into any of this??


See post 224 by human
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108375&page=9

 

[Cappuccino]

Can you believe it?

As far as suspects, DR was not on their radar screen in the beginning. I wonder what happened to changed their mind?

LE was looking at him before the public knew.

This crime happened virtually on DR's doorstep - of course he was on their radar from the start. I know they've not exactly distinguished themselves, but surely they're not completely stupid.

And LE looking at him before the public knew has no relevance. They got tunnel vision about DR for all the reasons that other police departments have gotten tunnel vision about the wrong person, and that rarely has anything to do with public knowledge.

Don't get me wrong, I can see why DR is a suspect - I'm just saying, he's not the only suspect and maybe not even the best one.

 

[human]

I can tell you he was not on their radar in the beginning. I was involved in searches for awhile, and he was not being considered. There were a couple of other people being considered and I do not know what happened to that .

I wonder what it is that made LE suspicious of him.

I wonder what they found when they were searching this last time that allowed them to get another search warrant.

Why would LE want to have tunnel vision? Why do they want to have this guy as a suspect? Please explain that.

I can see where they may some satisfaction in harrassing convicted child sex offenders, but what is the point in spending all of this money on DR?

I was trying to figure out who the sex offender is from Paynesville and I thought maybe I had the wrong town. There are plenty of sex offenders to choose from if that is what floats someone's boat. Just punch in some of the towns around St. Joe and you will get plenty of choices.

 

[Cappuccino]

I can tell you he was not on their radar in the beginning. I was involved in searches for awhile, and he was not being considered.

LE shared their list of suspects with people who were involved in the searches? Are you sure?

I wonder what it is that made LE suspicious of him.

Its blatantly obvious what made LE suspicious of him. The crime happened at the end of his driveway, and he has no alibi. That would make anybody suspicious.

I wonder what they found when they were searching this last time that allowed them to get another search warrant.

I wonder too, but it obviously wasn't much, because he's still not under arrest and never has been. How many times has he been interviewed without a lawyer present, how many times have they searched his property? He's been polygraphed, and god help his sense, even hypnotised. The result.....zilch, nothing, nada.

Don't you wonder if there's maybe nothing there?

Why would LE want to have tunnel vision? Why do they want to have this guy as a suspect? Please explain that.

Tunnel vision is an involuntary state, nobody "wants" to get it. Its like confirmation bias, or cognitive dissonance - the person who falls prey to it doesn't want it, and doesn't even know they have it. They genuinely believe this person is guilty.

Daniel Rassier is still a suspect in my eyes, he's just nothing more than one of several suspects and IMO he's already occupied more of this thread than the evidence demands.

 

[human]

LE shared their list of suspects with people who were involved in the searches? Are you sure?



Its blatantly obvious what made LE suspicious of him. The crime happened at the end of his driveway, and he has no alibi. That would make anybody suspicious.



I wonder too, but it obviously wasn't much, because he's still not under arrest and never has been. How many times has he been interviewed without a lawyer present, how many times have they searched his property? He's been polygraphed, and god help his sense, even hypnotised. The result.....zilch, nothing, nada.

Don't you wonder if there's maybe nothing there?



Tunnel vision is an involuntary state, nobody "wants" to get it. Its like confirmation bias, or cognitive dissonance - the person who falls prey to it doesn't want it, and doesn't even know they have it. They genuinely believe this person is guilty.

Daniel Rassier is still a suspect in my eyes, he's just nothing more than one of several suspects and IMO he's already occupied more of this thread than the evidence demands.

I know I am doing mysterious nyah nyah nyah boo boo, but I know for some reasons that I will not go into. But all my knowledge is gone after 1990 basically, so that's that.

 

[Cappuccino]

I know I am doing mysterious nyah nyah nyah boo boo, but I know for some reasons that I will not go into. But all my knowledge is gone after 1990 basically, so that's that.

What is that pile of gibberish supposed to mean?

 

[cGorg]

Cappuccino...you beat me to the punch by seconds...WHAT do those few sentences mean?

 

[cGorg]

Did they live in Clearwater then when Jacob was kidnapped?

How far is Clearwater from St. Joe?

22 miles, 25 minutes from RB,Sr house to DR property

 

[marlins]

I wonder what they found when they were searching this last time that allowed them to get another search warrant.

The initial search warrant was for the gravel pit located outside of the Rassier farmstead. The second search warrant was for the Rassier home.

The reason LE obtained a second search warrant (for the Rassier house) is because a cedar chest with blood residue was recovered through the initial search warrant. The second search warrant was initiated because the cedar chest had been in the Rassier home prior to being placed in the gravel pit.

 

[marlins]

Did they live in Clearwater then when Jacob was kidnapped?

How far is Clearwater from St. Joe?

22 miles, 25 minutes from RB,Sr house to DR property

Okay, so why would RB SR and gang choose to prowl for victims late on a sunday night, on a deserted county road, 25 minutes from their home? It just doesn't add up to me.

 

[shergal]

Bahners lived in Clearwater?? I thought they lived in St. Joe? Why were the boys always hanging around town and everyone knew them?

Isn't Clearwater where Patty and Jerry went for their party that night? Maybe Bahner's knew someone at that party and were told mom and dad were here, kids are home alone? Can't imagine who would have done that though.

 

[shergal]

I agree LE should be harassing the Bahners. Leprikawn posted this info last October:



Richard had 9 kids if you count Alan who died before him. Alan was arrested for molesting a 10 year old girl in 1983. He died in 1998 at age 34.

Also according to the info provided by Leprikawn, sons Richard Jr and Michael were charged in 1995 with a felony for molesting a 7 year old young boy in 1990 who was an acquaintance of the family. That is close to the date of Jacob's disappearance. What if they tried to shut him up and suffocated him?

So these boys were assaulting young boys when they were only 17 and 24? You have to wonder what went on in that family to have the dad and 3 sons be child molesters. Wow. And how exactly are Richard and Michael out free and walking around now??

 

[human]

Bahners lived in Clearwater?? I thought they lived in St. Joe? Why were the boys always hanging around town and everyone knew them?

Isn't Clearwater where Patty and Jerry went for their party that night? Maybe Bahner's knew someone at that party and were told mom and dad were here, kids are home alone? Can't imagine who would have done that though.

People on the net have said Bahners were hanging around St. Joe, but is there any truth to it?

If someone called from the home where the party was, I imagine LE looked into phone calls from there. Remember, cellphones were not really that available and I imagine coverage in rural areas like that would have been almost non existent.

If they abused someone in their own family, maybe the sentence is less?

When I was working, I had a 6 year old student that had been abused by mom's BF. Penetrated.. He served one year in a very loose facility.

Hopefully, they are sentenced longer nowadays, but I am not really sure they are.